


Love me, won't you

by blackjacktheboss, chasexjackson



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Also inspired by a film about pizza restaurants so there’s that, F/M, Fluff and Angst, High School, Human AU, Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Miscommunication, Secret Relationship, secret make outs, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-05-09 21:48:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 40,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14724185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackjacktheboss/pseuds/blackjacktheboss, https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasexjackson/pseuds/chasexjackson
Summary: On the small island of Pigasos in Greece, a town named Elaiónas lays divided by an ancient family feud. The Kapetanidis and Onassis families, though once close friends, have despised each other for generations. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase are no exception to that rule...until they are.A shakespearean tragedy turned teen romcom.





	1. September

**Author's Note:**

> Yes yes, it's another AU from Soph and Hannah because we Cannot help ourselves. we've incorporated more of our favourite tropes for this high school based, all human AU. This one is set in Greece! and imma formally apologise now because neither of us are Greek and our knowledge is based solely on google searches, so if you find anything inaccurate that you think needs to be remedied then hit us up and we'll make some changes :)
> 
> Soph made a brilliant post talking about the history of the island which you can and should read  
> [here](http://blackjacktheboss.tumblr.com/post/174100891306/blackjacktheboss-island-au-by-ananbeth)
> 
> As always, we love kudos and comments and asks. Validate us, pls. There's no posting schedule because I'm trash but I'm hoping not to keep y'all waiting too long :)
> 
> p.s. the title is from Best Part by Daniel Caesar and HER

It wasn’t a strange occurrence, in Alexandria School, to overhear an argument between Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. In fact, it would be far stranger not to play witness to or collect the gossip about the two having a public disagreement of some kind during the school day. Sometimes it was as mild as Annabeth flipping him the bird as they crossed paths in the hall or Percy _accidentally_ spilling his orange juice over her Chemistry notes.

Today though, it was a classic raging argument. A straight up bitch fight.

Their fellow students had been deprived over the summer months when, despite living in the same sparsely populated town, the two seemed to have managed to go without a single public argument. It seemed as though they were making up for lost time now, as they stood on opposite sides of the hall, students semi-circled on either side, throwing obscenities at one another. Just like their forefathers, and their forefathers before them, and probably several more before them had done.

It was, in fact, incredibly common knowledge on the small island of Pígasos that the town called Elaiónas - mostly occupied by the descendants of expats - was split neatly in two many generations ago, and had remained that way ever since. The argument that Percy and Annabeth were having now, in the blandly painted hallways of their high school, was not really about anything they had done to offend the other. It was about a feud which had started too many generations to count before them.

The Onassis and the Kapetanidis families had been at odds with each other since their ancestors had first landed on this island and each attempted to claim official founding rights to the town that now sprawled across the cliffside like climbing vines across a house. Pelagios Kapetanidis, Percy’s ancestor, had sourced a natural Spring, which remained marked to this day by a small white column on the hilltop overlooking the old church. Alexandra Onassis, Annabeth’s ancestor, however, had planted an Olive Tree which the settlers had opted for as a more immediately beneficial token and which they had proceeded to build their town around.

Their families had been at odds over since, and the town too, had been split in loyalties. Since both families grew through the generations, so did the size of the feud. Although it had grown less serious over the years, it had been reignited by Percy and Annabeth’s parents and was now at its full state of hostility. Though today, only a few families remained strictly loyal to one family or the other. Some were newer inhabitants or were simply not compelled enough to hold onto an age old feud which, ultimately, made little to no difference to their lives.

Other than, perhaps, witnessing a few arguments play out.

* * *

 

“You make me sick, Jackson. You know that?”

“I didn’t actually. Would you like to tell me in more detail?” Percy’s grin was obnoxious and jeering.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Your family is so pathetic. Why do you think that stupid spring is all the way on the outskirts of town?”

“Still coming up with the original arguments, I see.”

“Better than yours. At least my family doesn’t need to borrow money to keep the business going.”

Percy’s eyebrows shot up as an _ooh_ chorused around them. “Maybe my family values things other than money. At least I _see_ my mom.”

Below the belt. Another chorus of _oohs_.

Annabeth scowled at him, feeling stung despite how many times she’d heard variations of the insult, and despite knowing that, really, there was no fire behind it.

“Fuck you,” she spat, and shoved her way through the crowd to get out of there.

Students split like the red sea for her and seemed to converge together again in her wake. She was glad for it, glad to get some space between her and that messy, messy fight. Glad to be able to run for cover as quickly as possible as word of the latest argument between Percy and Annabeth spread around the school.

These kids complained about the feud between the two families, but they loved to talk about it as much as their parents did.

Thankfully, nobody followed Annabeth outside and she was able to make her way over to the dilapidated bike shed without being stopped. Once there, she climbed her way through the tangling vines which had connected the shed to the side of the science block and picked her way through the nettles and cigarette stubs until she found a safe place to stand and lean against the rot-weakened wall of the shed.

Then she waited.

It took him four and a half minutes and six swear words to reach her. Annabeth watched, amused, as he attempted to shake off a vine that had tangled its way around his arm and simultaneously trip over a rogue root sprouting its way through the undergrowth.

“You alright there?”

“This was a terrible place to meet,” he complained, accepting her outstretched hand as he made it through the last of the obstacles.

She shook her head at him, squeezing his fingers as they slotted between hers. “Well, where else could we meet without being seen?”

Percy crowded her up against the wall of the shed and leaned his forehead against hers, pressing against her as he breathed in, like he was grounding himself.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Somewhere where I don’t get assaulted by shrubbery.”

“Don’t be a baby.”

“Don’t be mean.”

Annabeth laughed, careful to keep it quiet as he lifted his head away from hers and watched her. “Speaking of mean…”

Percy’s expression dropped a touch and he leaned into her space again. “Sorry,” he said, kissing the side of her neck. “Did I hurt your feelings?”

Annabeth pinched his side. “Don’t be an ass,” she said, laughing.

He was grinning at her when he looked at her again. “What was that thing with the money? You know I have my own boat, don’t you?”

“That old piece of junk?”

Percy gaped at her in mock offence and she laughed again, delighted, wondering vaguely how, just over four months ago, she positively loathed this boy.

She gripped the rumpled collar of his shirt and pulled him into her space, both adoring and bored of the build up now. She tilted her face up to him and met his lips in the space in between and this, this is what she’d been waiting for. This is what she’d been wanting while they’d yelled at each other in the hallway. This is what she’d been thinking about during her first two classes this morning. This had been the first thing on her mind when she woke up to the noise of her relatives making breakfast to fill the emptiness of her mother’s house.

They kissed, and kissed some more. Until they were panting just a bit and tugging each other a little too close. Until she was smiling into his kisses and he was smiling into hers because neither of them could really believe that this was where they were, what they were doing. She’d had a few weeks over summer to get used to greeting him with smiles instead of words sharpened into weapons. But this was the first time they’d been together at school and, though not their first time sneaking around, it was the first time she felt like they were really hiding.

It was strangely thrilling. More so than she thought it would be. She expected that the thrill would wear into frustration soon.

As they tried to calm their smiles down, Percy nosed at her cheek and she checked her watch over his shoulder, groaning when she saw the time.

“What?” Percy asked, quiet and breathed into her skin.

“We don’t have much time.”

Percy sighed, leaning away to look at her. He was frowning as he pushed some of her hair back from her face and she frowned back at him, because there was nothing to be done about it. They didn’t have much time, that was it. But Percy’s frown deepened a little more and he started worrying at his bottom lip until she lifted her hand and tugged it out with her thumb.

“What?”

“What I said about your mom,” he started. “It was below the belt.”

She kept her fingers curled around his chin and shook his head a little with her grip. “It was within our agreed limits.”

His frown wasn’t going anywhere. “Still.”

And well, Annabeth still wasn’t entirely used to knowing that Percy cared about her like this. Cared about hurting her feelings or getting too personal, cutting too sharp and deep. So this earnest enquiring about overstepped lines sent a skitter of heartbeats through her veins. She felt them flurry from her chest, down her arms and through her belly and into the tips of her fingers and her toes. She smiled.

“It’s okay,” she told him, accepting the unsaid apology.

Percy nodded, but he still looked sad. So she used her grip on his chin to pull him in for another kiss. And then another, and another, until he was smiling against her smile again.

“Sorry,” he told her.

“Sorry too,” she said, because she was. Because she hated using hurtful words against him too. Because they’d spent years hurling so many spiteful words at each other that it had become second nature, and now it felt so foreign that Annabeth had had to tear the words out of her throat to get them heard, feeling as though they couldn’t have come from her for how unnatural they’d felt on her tongue.

Because she only ever wanted to say kind words to Percy. Even when he was irritating her, she wouldn’t want to be cruel to him. Because it had only been a month since they established this thing between them as something real, but she already felt like she was too deep in her feelings to be able to ever separate herself from them.

She brushed her knuckles over his cheek and smiled when he leaned into it. She smiled again when he asked her, “Can I see you after school?” But her smile dropped into a sigh.

“I told Piper I’d go to hers.”

Percy groaned. “Why.”

She laughed and tugged on his hair. He was smiling too, at her laughter or at his own theatrics, she wasn’t sure.

“Because I told her I would. Because she’s been in L.A. all summer and I’ve barely seen her since she got back.”

Percy pulled a face. “Still.”

She laughed again. And he laughed too, like he’d said it just to get that reaction from her. Like he just wanted to make her laugh.

“I’m free tomorrow after school,” she told him.

“Mom asked me to help at the restaurant.”

It was her time to pull a face. “Bummer.”

“Wednesday?”

She shook her head. “Study group. Thursday?”

“At the Spring?”

“It’s a date.”

They both smiled, but it was short lived. They’d been spoilt over the summer; with their respective best friends in another country or busy working, and with Annabeth’s mother mostly out of town, they had been able to spend copious amounts of time together. Now they had to wait four days to spend time together that wasn’t hiding behind a bike shed or shouting at each other in front of the whole school.

“Next year,” he said, understanding and feeling the same at once. “We can do whatever we want.”

It had become a little mantra. Even in the short time they’d been together. In the days preparing to come back to school, they had prepared for this separation and told each other, _next year_. Next year they’d be done with school and this town and this ridiculous feud. They would be at college, they didn’t actually know where yet, hadn’t gotten to discussing it in that much detail yet, but they’d be free of this cloud over their heads.

Annabeth sighed and tipped her forehead against his, mirroring his move when he’d found her ten minutes ago.

“Next year,” she repeated wistfully.

* * *

 

A few hours later found Annabeth sprawled on her belly on her best friend’s bed. She had a textbook in front of her and was trying desperately to make sense of the squiggly lines as she chewed on her pencap. She and Piper were supposed to be studying for their first math quiz of the year, but Annabeth was still stuck on the second question and Piper had gotten up to change the music four times, so neither of them had been particularly productive.

After a few more frustrating minutes, Piper sighed and threw her pen down. Annabeth looked up from her book as Piper bounced onto the bed next to her, lying halfway across her.

“Whatever. I’ll fail calculus, I’m never gonna use it,” she says.

Annabeth snorted and nudged Piper so that she could roll onto her back and lean against the pillows. Piper shifted next to her, leaving her head on Annabeth’s belly.

“I’m sure it’s not essential,” Annabeth agreed.

“Tell me about your summer instead,” Piper said, catching Annabeth off guard because, well, most of her summer was spent with someone who she shouldn’t be able to stand the sight of.

She coughed. “It was fine. Boring.”

“Hm.”

“What?”

“It’s just. You were all weirdly happy and vague all summer when we talked and I expected….I don’t know, something, when I got back that would clear things up.”

Heart racing, Annabeth feigned ignorance. “What are you talking about? It was summer, no school, I was happy.”

“Hm.”

Annabeth tugged on a piece of Piper’s hair. “Stop. There’s nothing to tell, I swear. My aunts kept me plenty busy and when I wasn’t with them I was sunbathing. Now tell me about your summer. L.A. is definitely more exciting.”

“Ugh, you know it’s not.”

“The cute guy on your snapchat would beg to differ.”

Piper clearly tried hard to contain her smile and failed. “I already told you about him.”

Annabeth grinned. Piper had, in fact, kept her up to date over the summer about the cute boy she’d met on the beach and wound up spending most of her summer with.

“Is he the Danny to your Sandy?” Annabeth teased. “Is he gonna fly over here and sweep you off your feet?”

Piper snorted. “Fuck off.”

“But really, are you still in contact?”

Piper shrugged. “A little.”

And to anyone who didn’t know her, it might have looked like indifference. But Annabeth knew her. And she knew that Piper had really liked this guy, she was just okay with it not being a forever thing. Piper loved love. She was never cynical nor whimsical about it. At seventeen years of age, she was more wise about the concept than most adults were.

“You guys looked good together,” Annabeth told her.

Piper smiled again, looking sappy. “Yeah, he was _fine_. I’m gonna miss that hunk - did you see how tall he was?”

“Yeah, but most people are tall next to you.”

Piper smacked her leg. “Giraffe.”

“Midget.”

They wasted a bit more time not studying until Annabeth insisted they look at their books at least a little bit, though very reluctantly. She had to be home by nine - though her mom wasn’t there, two or more of her relatives were always around the house and keeping tabs on her. Her aunt had already called the house and left a message with Piper’s grandmother reminding her of her curfew. Family was inescapable in this town. Annabeth often marvelled at how much time she and Percy had actually managed to get away with stealing together over the summer.

Eventually, Piper sat up, groaning all the way. But before she settled back on the floor with her neglected books, she threw Annabeth another look.

“So, I know this is unlikely to get an answer but. Are you gonna tell me who you’re secretly fooling around with or am I gonna have to figure it out myself?”

Her face was perfectly straight as she sat down cross-legged on her fluffy purple rug. Her eyebrows raised and mouth in a straight line and Annabeth was, well. Stunned, for lack of a better word. She’d felt her hackles raise at Piper’s earlier prodding, but she hadn’t anticipated such a direct questioning.

She hadn’t anticipated Piper figuring things out so soon.

“Um.”

She cleared her throat and avoided Piper’s stare, knowing she was giving everything away with every one of her movements. Annabeth managed to compose her practiced poker face, but the damage had already been done.

“You think I’d be able to fool around with anyone without the entire town finding out?”

She tried playing it cool, knowing Piper didn’t believe her. A double hook. Piper knew that she knew that Piper knew she was lying.

But Piper just raised her eyebrows and shrugged, like she had before. “It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me now. Just know that I know.”

Then she returned to her work, leaving Annabeth reeling. Something uncomfortable rolled around in her stomach as she began to realise just how much she would have to lie to everyone she knew.

She and Percy had been safely wrapped up in their own world all summer, barely having to face the prospect of sneaking around. Using easy excuses to get away from family and having too much time on their hands and too many places to hide out together.

But now. If Piper had managed to detect just as much without having even been on the island, how much longer was Annabeth and Percy’s secret going to remain a secret?

It wasn’t that Annabeth didn’t trust Piper, but she was part of the agreed disagreement between the two families like everyone else. She and Annabeth were distantly related cousins, so she was always destined to hate Percy, just like Annabeth had been. This was a secret not ready to be shared with anyone. Annabeth herself had barely had time to come to terms with the swift turnaround of her feelings for Percy, so she could hardly expect everyone else to be ready to accept them.

This feud ran far too deep, there was too much age old resentment between family members who would so readily dismiss Percy and Annabeth’s feelings for each other as trivial and insubstantial. They would be prevented from seeing one another. Several members of their respective families would simply stop speaking to them, if they found out.

No, this was better kept between the two of them, save anyone else getting involved.

But still, as Annabeth lay in her bed later that night, she felt the anxiety sweep over her in tides, pinching something tight in her chest and rolling her stomach and threatening its way up her throat, though she’d barely eaten anything for dinner. No matter how much she tried to turn her brain off, she kept coming round to the same thing:

She and Percy were truly alone in this.

It was a slightly overwhelming prospect, considering that they were still testing the ropes of their relationship, still figuring each other out. Because, despite having grown up in the same small town as him and learning about his family before she knew her times tables, she still didn’t actually know everything about Percy. Which was, in terms of their relationship, really exciting. She loved learning new things about him, understanding how he ticked and what his quirks were. Each new bit of information made her fall for him more than the last.

It was exciting, but it was scary too.

It was scary because if they hit any bumps in the road, they had only each other to figure them out. There was to be no consulting with friends or moms or aunties who gave terrible advice anyway. There was nobody to gush to about how happy she was with him or to complain to when he did something irritating. Nobody to listen and rationalise and give perspective.

Annabeth was well aware how much she got inside her own head sometimes, and how damaging that could be.

After listening to the branches of the olive tree outside the window tapping the glass for several minutes, Annabeth reached for her phone and pulled up her messages with Percy. He was listed simply as P but anyone who looked back through their messages wouldn’t have to work too hard to piece together who it was.

**P**

_(23.09) I don’t want to argue with you tomorrow_

(23.12) me neither. I hate arguing with you

_(23.13) we don’t have any classes together do we?_

(23.13) don’t think so? Calc third period?

_(23.13) no that’s Wednesday_

(23.14) then wtf do I have third period

_(23.14) do I look like your planner?_

(23.14) I need a human planner

_(23.14) it’s literally not that difficult to look at your planner_

(23.15) life is a struggle, Annabeth

_(23.15) you’re a struggle_

(23.15) ☹️

(23.15) mean

_(23.16) baby_

(23.16) are you calling me baby? That’s sweet

_(23.16) shut up_

(23.17) :))))))))

(23.18) SPANISH

(23.18) I have Spanish third period

 _(23.18)_ _felicitaciones_

_(23.18) (that’s congratulations btw)_

(23.18) yes thanks

(23.18) I have soccer practice at lunch too so you can have the cafeteria

_(23.19) all for myself? Thank you_

(23.19) you’re welcome. Never say I’m not generous

_(23.19) sad I won’t see you at all_

(23.20) me too

(23.20) mom wants me at the restaurant straight after school too and we won’t close until midnight

_(23.20) maybe I could come for dinner at the restaurant_

(23.20) sure that sounds like a great way to start ww3

_(23.21) can you imagine if I did_

_(23.21) what do you think would actually happen_

(23.21) my projaja ceecee would throw you out on your ass is what would happen

_(23.21) she’s like 92_

(23.21) and v wiley

_(23.22) hm_

(23.22) don’t underestimate her. She may be old and frail looking but she’s a beast I’m tellin ya

_(23.22) not a very nice way to talk about your great grandma_

(23.22) she gave herself that title

(23.22) forreal she can put away some drink too. Never challenge her to a contest

_(23.23) noted_

_(23.23) if I’m ever allowed within a fifty foot radius of your family, I’ll never challenge your great gramma ceecee to a drink off_

(23.24) point taken

_(23.24) what_

(23.24) our families aren’t ever gonna quit hating each other are they

_(23.24) they might_

(23.25) hm

_(23.25) cmon I never anticipated being the optimistic one in this relationship_

(23.25) oh you’d thought about us being in a relationship before it happened then?

_(23.25) shut up_

_(23.25) you know what I mean_

(23.26) you liked me

_(23.26) lmfao keep dreaming_

(23.26) don’t have to dream. I know it

_(23.26) whatever._

_(23.26) I guess I thought you were cute_

(23.26) :)))))))))))))

(23.26) I knew it!!

_(23.27) omg we’re literally dating shut up_

(23.27) I thought you were cute too

(23.27) still do

_(23.27) you too_

_(23.27) loser_

(23.27) :D

_(23.29) thank you_

(23.30) what for?

_(23.30) for cheering me up_

(23.30) anytime :)

(23.30) anything in particular getting you down?

_(23.30) piper knows_

(23.30) WHAT

(23.30) what the fuck?!

_(23.30) no omg not about you_

_(23.30) I pressed send too soon_

(23.30) fucking hell

_(23.31) sorry!!!!!_

_(23.31) she knows that I’m “fooling around with someone”_

(23.31) it’s okay my heart is recovering it’s normal rate

(23.31) how does she know that?

_(23.31) she’s very intuitive_

(23.32) so she suspects but doesn’t actually know

_(23.32) it’s the same thing with piper_

(23.32) is she gonna be a problem

_(23.32) I mean this isn’t the mafia_

_(23.32) calm down_

(23.32) sorry lol

(23.32) was she asking you about it though?

_(23.33) a little. But she didn’t push too much_

(23.33) okay

(23.33) you okay?

_(23.34) I guess_

_(23.34) it’s hard lying to everyone_

(23.34) I know I hate it too

(23.35) I didn’t think it would be this hard cause we managed it all summer but Grover was barely around

(23.35) I hate lying to him

(23.35) and my mom

_(23.35) at least I haven’t had to deal with my mom yet_

_(23.36) my gramma was asking about our argument at dinner though_

(23.36) jeez news spreads fast

_(23.36) in this town about that kind of news, yeah_

(23.37) one day

_(23.37) one day_

(23.37) <3

_(23.37) <3 _

_(23.38) we should get some sleep_

(23.38) I guess so

(23.38) I’ve dropped my phone on my face like five times

_(23.39) thank you for persevering_

(23.39) of course

_(23.39) good night Percy_

(23.40) good night Annabeth

* * *

 

 

**_Before._ **

Personally, Percy was incredibly ready for summer break to start. School had already dragged on for too long this year and he’d been longing to spend the stretching summer days on his boat since the beginning of May. Now one week into June, he was positively itching to get out of this stuffy classroom. He didn’t do well indoors at the best of times, but with the sun beating down through the pane of glass directly next to him, he felt as though he was being slightly tortured.

Only slightly, because he was actually in his favourite class, with his favourite teacher, and he was sitting right next to his best friend. But despite all of this, he was still snapped out of a daze when Mr Brunner announced that forty percent of their final grade would be a final project completed in pairs. Grover elbowed him, grinning as a universal sign for, _you and me yeah?_ Percy grinned back, nodding once.

But then Mr Brunner pulled out the register which he’d signed them all in on at the beginning of class and Percy felt the next three weeks slipping away from him.

“Andreas Costas and Julia Zografos.”

_Oh no._

He was just reading off names randomly. Those two were nowhere near each other on the register. Panic started to set in. While Percy wasn’t a particularly anti social guy, there were plenty of people in this school - in this class - who he definitely didn’t want to work with. He glanced desperately at Grover who returned the look before jerking his chin at someone sitting a couple of rows in front.

And well, yeah, he definitely didn’t want to be paired with _her_.

Annabeth Chase’s blonde ponytail swung as she turned her head to follow her friend’s pointed finger at him. Their eyes met in mutual distaste before she whipped her head around again to face the front.

God, he hated her.

It was an innate feeling in his chest. Something that flared up whenever he heard her voice or saw her arrogant face or felt her elbow dig into his back in Chem Lab.

He was always supposed to hate her, it was something decided long before he was born and something he found incredibly easy to fulfill. Usually, he didn’t like doing something simply because it was expected of him, but her unrivalled arrogance and pride made things different for him.

“Grover Underwood and Francesca Aplin.”

Which is when Percy really started to panic. More and more names were called, none of them Percy or Annabeth’s and Percy wasn’t the only one growing shifty in his seat. The whole class started murmuring and exchanging looks as two by two, everybody was paired off until Mr Brunner nudged his glasses up his nose and read out,

“Lastly, Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson.”

Percy knows what the quiet before a storm feels like. From a very young age, his mother would take him out to the balcony of their little house and hold him while the clouds sucked the moisture and every noise down to the last breath of every cicada out of the air. It would hold and brew above them for an infinite moment, before lightning would crackle like splintered glass on the horizon and thunder clapped not far behind and then the rain, at last, would tumble down in its torrents.

That was the feeling in this classroom: dead silence like a breath being sucked in. And then an enormous thunderclap in the form of:

“What the _fuck?”_

The thunderclap in question was, slightly surprisingly, neither Percy nor Annabeth, but Piper McLean. But then again, Percy knew from extensive experience how much of a potty mouth she had, so it wasn’t actually all that surprising. Then came the rain, gasps and laughs and choruses of _oohs_ at Piper’s outburst. Mr Brunner’s quiet but authoritative instruction for her to collect her belongings and report to the Principal’s office amongst the chaos. As Piper followed his instructions, as furiously and disruptively as possible, the classes attention returned to the topic of her outburst.

“Sir,” it was Annabeth who spoke this time. “Can I be paired with anyone else?”

Of course she would phrase it in a way that these circumstances were of the most inconvenience to her and her alone.

“I’m afraid not, Miss Chase.”

“I can’t work with him,” she insisted.

“She’ll have to do all the work,” Piper interjected, still on her way out the door. “Their whole family are bums.”

Percy burst out of his seat with Grover alongside him. “Shut your mouth, Princess. We can’t all be spoilt brats.”

Mr Brunner slammed his clipboard down on his desk with a snap. “Miss McLean, out! Mr Jackson I advise you watch your tongue unless you want to join her.”

He said it with such authority that Percy did actually clamp his mouth shut. Say what you wanted about Percy and his smartass attitude at school, but he had a lot of respect for Mr Brunner. It was perhaps this that made this betrayal doubly painful.

The door finally slammed behind Piper and Mr Brunner sighed, removing his glasses to wipe them with the little cloth he kept in the case.

“This is gonna cause world war three,” someone commented quietly to Percy’s right.

“Close your shutters tonight everyone,” another muttered.

Percy was still standing, so he lowered himself into his seat and tried for a quiet and respectful tone. “Sir. We’re not exaggerating here. I don’t know whether you’re trying to build resilience or a truce or something but my yaya literally won’t let me go to that side of town.”

“Oh your _grandma_ won’t let you?” Annabeth turned in her seat, apparently unable to stop herself. “That’s cute, is she scared of her baby Percy getting hurt?”

 _“ B_ _raccas meas vescimini_ _.”_

Percy’s gramma had taught him other things too.

Before Annabeth could reply, Mr Brunner cut in again. “Mr Jackson, that’s a weeks detention. You’re not the only one who speaks Latin.”

Despite the fact that he was punishing him, Percy could swear there was a glint of pride in Mr Brunner’s eye. Possibly at Percy’s correct pronunciation, or something.

Annabeth might have seen it too because she huffed loudly and straightened in her seat. “Sir, my mom won’t allow this. She’ll write to the school board.”

The restraint which Percy had to exercise at not making an insulting comment about Annabeth’s mother was astounding. He deserved an award, honestly.

Mr Brunner said, quite calmly, “I’m quite confident in the security of my job, thank you, Miss Chase.”

Another chorus of _oohs_ , like before. Annabeth shifted uncomfortably. “That’s not what I meant,” she muttered.

Mr Brunner eventually seemed to have had enough. “Listen. Everybody has been paired depending on the level of their work. You two are no exception. I won’t hear anymore of this, so kindly stop complaining about it and deal with it. You never know, it might do you some good.”

The whole class looked around, unconvinced.

The bell took its moment to ring then and Percy joined everyone in collecting their belongings into their bags and filing out of the classroom. As Percy was leaving, Mr Brunner called his name, like an afterthought, without looking up from his desk.

“You might actually thank me for this one day.”

And well, he seriously doubted that.

Shrugging his backpack onto his shoulder, Percy turned his back on his teacher and exited the classroom, where the rest of the class had only recently spilled out and turned expectantly at his arrival. He heard some vaguely quietened whispers as he joined Grover.

“Remember when he cut off her braid.”

“....months to grow back.”

“Only because she filled his locker with garbage.”

“Wasn’t it dead mice?”

“Rats.”

It was actually manure from her grandfather’s compost bin, but Percy wasn’t about to correct them. He was more than ready to get out of that hallway and head home to contemplate his fate. Aside from his eagerness to leave, it was hardly the first time he’d overheard whispers about his and Annabeth’s crimes against one another; and it definitely wasn’t the first time they’d been inaccurate, or even completely fabricated. Their family feud created brilliant groundwork for stories and gossip to be built upon.

Mostly, Percy didn’t care.

_Mostly._

“Hey, Jackson,” called an all too familiar voice behind him. Apparently Annabeth wasn’t quite as ready to call it a day yet.

Slowly, with a glance in Grover’s direction which was met with a fraternal nod, Percy spun on his heel as he held onto the straps of his backpack. And there she was, standing like Moses in the barren Red Sea. Students pressed against the walls of lockers either side, stumbling and hushing in an unsettled way, like they were about to witness a tennis match, or a boxing fight.

“This isn’t going to work,” is what she says eventually. Tennis match it is then.

“You’re tellin’ _me.”_

He just noticed Piper waiting in the wings, having presumably returned from her talk with the Principal. She stood by Annabeth’s left shoulder and behind her, Percy noticed Mr Brunner subtly lean against the doorframe to his classroom, not quite interrupting yet, but ready to umpire if necessary.

Annabeth noticed too, and her expression shifted from hostile to bored in what seemed like the blink of an eye. It always amazed him, a little bit, how she could do that. Like taking off one mask and replacing it with another. Still, he was glad for it. He was bored of the theatrics now, too.

“Library after school tomorrow.”

Percy lifted one eyebrow, surprised. “So we’re working together?”

There were mumbles around them.

“Doesn’t seem like we have much of a choice.”

“Mommy’s not gonna sue the school then?”

(Okay, maybe he wasn’t that bored yet. He couldn’t help a few jabs after he missed out in the classroom.)

“Grow up, Jackson.”

“Pot. Kettle. Black.”

She rolled her eyes. “Tomorrow. Library.”

“Fine.”

“Great.”

“See you then.”

She pulled a mocking face and waved at him. “Can’t wait.”

Then she turned on her heel and flounced off with Piper next to her, the crowd of students separating easily for them both. They all scattered easily after that, ever so slightly resembling a disappointed mob who didn’t get to witness the burning and pillaging they’d been promised. Percy glanced over at Mr Brunner who managed to throw him an unreadable look before pushing off the doorframe to retreat back inside his classroom.

Percy gripped his backpack straps and walked down the hallway towards his locker, Grover in tow.

“Well that was interesting,” he commented lightly.

“Mm,” Percy hummed non-committedly.

“Almost felt like a peace treaty back there for a second.”

Percy shot him an incredulous look as he stopped at his locker. “You’re delusional.”

Grover just shrugged. He always supported Percy when it came to his battles with Annabeth and the rest of her family, but Percy could tell he was a little apathetic about the whole thing. Honestly, he reminded Percy of his mother and her advice: “don’t be a sheep”. She didn’t make any noise about it with her in-laws but she didn’t share their passion for the fight either.

Grover fought hard for what he believed in and he was the most loyal friend in the world, so he fought for Percy. But his heart wasn’t into any other aspect than their friendship. Percy appreciated him more than he could say.

Except for right now.

Grover held his hands up, smile teetering at the corners of his mouth. “Whatever you say, buddy.”

Percy shut his locker and bumped his elbow against Grover’s arm as they walked towards the doors. “I do say. This project is gonna be fucking torture.”

“Connor and Travis have already started a betting pool,” Grover said.

“Jesus, another one? What are the stakes?”

“Who’s gonna crack first. Who’s gonna kill who. Who’s gonna complain to the principal first. Take your pick, there’s a bunch already going.”

“Fuck sake. How do they think they’re gonna monitor this?”

Grover threw him a disbelieving look. “How they monitor every other bet about you two. Your shit doesn’t exactly fly under the radar, man.”

They’d escaped the confines of school now and started the long walk up the hill through town towards their houses. The sun was beating down warmly on their shoulders and Percy tugged at the collar of his t-shirt, feeling the gentle breeze already lift the stifling air of school from his sweaty skin. His head was already feeling less clouded.

He and Grover walked through town in companionable silence, both returning greetings to those called at them. Living in such a small town meant that he at least recognised mostly everyone, and living in a small Greek town half-filled with expats from the States meant that everybody greeted everybody, whether they knew that person or not.

As they reached Grover’s house, a little stone cottage dripping with ivy and it’s garden overflowing with small trees, Grover stopped instead of opening the gate straight away. Percy turned to face him.

“You know there’s this one bet going,” Grover says, squinting against the sun. “That you two will get together.”

Percy couldn’t help the astounded laugh that escaped him. “Well the odds on that’ll be pretty high.”

“Yeah, I’ll be a rich man if that day comes.”

“Fuck off. You bet on me and Annabeth getting together?”

Grover laughed and Percy joined him, shaking his head. Him and Annabeth, a couple? Ridiculous.

“Yeah well, pigs might fly.”

Percy snorted. “Don’t count on it.”

“I’ll be sure not to.” He pushed his gate open. “These next few weeks are gonna be interesting though, huh?”

“Interesting is one word for it.”

Grover grinned. “Hang in there, bud.”

Percy sent him a salute and started up the hill towards his own house. “Already am.”

_Man, Grover was wrong, the next month wasn’t going to be interesting. It was going to be torture._

* * *

 


	2. October

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a minute huh! sorry for keeping you hanging for so long but there's a couple more chapters in the bank now and i'm hoping to keep on top of things so there isn't such a long wait again!
> 
> hope y'all enjoy this chapter and don't forget to find us on tumblr etc etc :)))

**October**

_ Before. _

Percy’s favourite food in the whole world were his mom’s blue pancakes. His endless family members could cook and bake the most delicious foods, complex dishes with herbs and spices and mountains of ingredients scribbled on crumbling pieces of paper which are held to more value than most of their own jewellery for their ancestry. But his mom’s pancakes were round and fluffy and bright blue, and no amount of koftas could really beat that. 

He couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t make food blue for him. She explained to him once that somebody she used to know told her that food couldn’t be blue, and she wanted to prove them wrong. That simple statement of defiance possibly summed Percy’s mother up better than any number of words. 

“Do you think I’m too old for blue pancakes now?” he asked her before stuffing a generous slice of the foodstuff into his mouth. 

His mom leaned over the little table between them to ruffle his hair. “You’re turning sixteen, not sixty.”

“Which means I’m entering adulthood soon.” He said, still chewing the pancake so the message was probably lost a little bit. 

She just looks at him fondly. “You’re still my growing boy and you’ll eat what I give you.”

“Yes, ma’.”

“Besides, you’re never too old for blue food, have I not taught you this? I expect you to carry this tradition on with your own kids. It’s the only heirloom I have to give you.”

Percy nearly choked on his food. “Okay, like you said: turning sixteen. Can we cool it with the kids talk?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m talking distant future, kiddo.” Then a frown crosses her face and she nods. “Yeah. Way distant future. I don’t want to be a grandma for a long time.”

Percy grinned.  _ “Yaya Sal.” _

She pointed her fork at him. “Cut it out.”

“You could borrow some of Ceecee’s skirts.”

“Perseus Jackson, you watch yourself.” Her voice was stern but spoiled by the smirk shaping the corner of her mouth. 

They finished their pancakes in comfortable silence and made no move to get up when their plates were clean. Both of them with a cup of coffee in hand at their round wooden table, they were comfortable to watch the world pass by outside the window next to them. Summer mornings on the island were possibly Percy’s favourite. With the fresh breeze dusting away hovering clouds and revealing a vibrant blue ocean beyond. Their window framed the picturesque image of the hillside, dotted with dozens of houses and restaurants and cafes and shops, sloping down to the beach. A few small boats already roamed the waters and Percy was eager to get out there himself. But first he was going to have breakfast with his mom. It was a tradition of sorts. 

Today Percy turned sixteen years old and in a couple of weeks, he would start his third year of high school. He was desperate for the summer holidays to last longer, as always, but he wasn’t dreading going back to the hallways of Alexandria High School as he had been the year before. He wasn’t a freshman anymore. 

“So, like, at the end of last semester Mr. Brunner mentioned we should start thinkin’ about college this year,” he said after several peaceful minutes had passed again. 

“Oh yeah? How you feeling about that?”

He shrugged. “Okay. Not really sure what my options are though.”

“Hm, yeah. Maybe that’s something we should talk about.”

“What do you mean?”

Her hands cupped her empty coffee cup. “Well, you have a dual nationality so we can apply for your US passport pretty easily.”

“Okay…” 

He wasn’t sure where this was leading. His mom grew up in Upper East Manhattan having met his father on a holiday to the Greek island they now called home and returned after finding out she was pregnant with Percy. His father had been dead for four months by then, but she stayed anyway.

She smiled at him now. “Your dad’s family and I, well, they’ve always kept money away for you and your future, and. I’ve put extra aside because college in America is more expensive, not to mention real estate in Manhattan…”

“Mom, what are you saying?”

She stopped and smiled, sighing at herself. “I thought I could come with you, if you wanted. If you wanted to go to college in New York, or, well, somewhere else in America, if you wanted?”

“You’d come with me?”

“If you wanted. Don’t feel like you have to say yes; I know college is about independence and I wouldn’t want to cramp your style -” they both laughed “- but it’s an option, if you want it.”

And well, most sixteen year olds might’ve blanched at the idea of taking their mom to college with them. But Percy and his mom had always been close in a way his classmates didn’t seem to be with their parents. Family was important on this island, due to cultural heritage and complicated loyalties and simple proximity. Family businesses ran the whole town and it was considered strange not to see several members of your not immediate family every day. Percy and his mom were one of the few families to live without either his  _ yaya  _ or  _ pappoús _ , but that was possibly one of the things which made he and his mom closer.

They were their own unit within the extended one. Although his mom informed her that his dad’s family had unequivocally accepted her as one of their own when she’d returned pregnant with him, he could always tell that she felt just a little on the outside. Her own family - estranged - were back in the States, he didn’t know where, and she was the only branch on the maternal side of their family tree who contributed to bringing him up - it was considered a group effort here. She’d always made sure to let him know both sides of his family history and to remind him that he had a home in an entirely different country, if he wanted it.

Percy loved his home. He loved his sprawling, passionate family with every bone in his body - even when his  theía Agneta pinched his cheek too hard or his younger cousin, Tyson, nearly squeezed his eyeballs out with a bearhug in which he underestimated his own strength. He loved their passion and their volume and their endless kindness. He even loved them when they were overbearing because he knew it came from their love for him. 

And, it used to grate on him slightly, when they would tell him how much he looked like his own father, who he never got to meet. It made him think: would they love me as much if I didn’t look like him? His mom, when he’d confessed this to her, told him a little chastising though with clear understanding in her eyes - like she had battled the same doubts - that they loved him unconditionally and would love him if he looked nothing like his father. 

_ “Family is the most important thing to them, Percy. And when… when your father died, they lost something which couldn’t ever be replaced. But when I came back to them with you, I think it was like a little part of him was returned to them.” She’d cradled his cheek gently. “You’re Po’s son. But they know you’re also mine, and that you’re you, all by yourself.” _

He’d remembered feeling abashed, but a swell of pride had rooted in his chest like a warm fire. A hearth within his heart. He understood: family was home, and it would always be there.

It would still be there if he left. As much as this island, this town, was home and always would be, Percy couldn’t help but feel excited at the prospect of finding a new home in another country; of exploring the place where his mom grew up.

Sitting in their kitchen now, he told her, “Yeah. Let’s do it.” And she laughed at his conviction. 

“Don’t decide anything yet,” she told him, carrying their mugs and plates to the sink.

“Okay.” 

But he had. Decision made. The tickets may as well be booked. 

That was his dream.

* * *

 

 

_ Now. _

Annabeth thought a lot, these days, about how dreams and aspirations change. When she was twelve, she wanted to run her mother's company, taking over as her prodigal successor. At fifteen, she’s discovered her own dream of becoming an architect and, despite her own mother’s wishes, has no intention of carrying on the family business. She just wasn’t cut out for that lifestyle. 

Just four months ago, she loathed Percy Jackson with every fibre in her body. Now, she was lying on his boat in the middle of the ocean, discussing their futures. 

Which was, objectively, pretty scary. But things never really felt that scary when she was with Percy, they just felt easy, and good. Really good. Fucking great, actually. She was a little annoyed that they’d wasted so many years hating each other’s guts. 

“Mom always wanted me to go to a college in the states,” she told Percy, leaning back on her elbows as she stretched out on the deck of the boat. 

Percy, standing at the wheel wearing green swim trunks and a grey baseball cap to shield his eyes, smiled at her. “Well that’s pretty convenient. D’you think she’ll change her mind if she finds out I want to do the same?”

“America’s a pretty big country.”

“True. I was kinda hoping we’d go to the same part of it though.”

She grinned. “Oh yeah? You wanna keep me around?”

“Well you know what they say about keeping your enemies close.”

She barked out a laugh. “Fuck off.”

Percy grinned. “Nah. I think you like having me around too much.”

She sniffed. “You’re fine I guess.”

“Thanks so much.” He moved away from the wheel and started taking down the mainsail. “I think we’re far enough out now.”

Annabeth sat up to look around them and saw that, yes, they were far enough away from the island they called home to consider this a private conversation. They’d see another boat miles off and she’d have plenty of time to get out of sight. Percy’s boat was her favourite escape, the closest they could get to not looking over their shoulders. They didn’t have to hush their voices or quiet their laughs or check the coast was definitely clear before they kissed. It wasn’t quite total freedom, but it was close. 

Or at least as close to it as they’d get. 

As she watched Percy move around to secure the boat, she briefly considered helping him - she’d picked up the basics quickly enough - but she was more content to watch him work. The summer had nicely bronzed his skin and left him looking healthy and strong. His muscles shifted deftly as he hopped from task to task effortlessly and Annabeth watched shamelessly. When she caught his eye and he saw her staring so openly, he glanced away again, biting his lip. He was flustered so easily, it was adorable. 

Finally, he threw himself down on the deck next to her, turning his hat around so he could lie on his front. Annabeth lay down on her back next to him, shifting against the warm wood of the deck. 

“So. College.”

Percy grunted. 

“What are you gonna study?”

“I don’t know,” he mumbled against his own arm. “Sailing.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

He lifted his head enough to look at her. “Don’t crush my dreams, Annabeth.”

She shoved him and he grinned before turning his face to the sky again and closing his eyes. 

“I’m serious. What’s your passion?”

“Mfph. I don’t know. Not all of us have our lives figured or by the age of fifteen, Annabeth.”

“You knew I wanted to be an architect when I was fifteen? That’s cute. You paid attention. You never really hated me, did you? It was all just to cover up your massive crush.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Oh I did hate you. With a passion. That was my passion, now I need to figure out what I want in life.”

“Me?” she asked coyly. 

He smiled against his arm, eyes still closed. “Are you asking me to be your house husband?”

She laughed, a little flustered. He sometimes dropped stuff like that in conversation, all causally. Percy was such a family oriented guy that talking about having a family of his own just never seemed to phase him. She was less enthusiastic about the idea. 

She was happy to talk about the next four years, that was enough responsibility, right?

“Your favourite subject is classics right?” she asked, not so deftly diverting the topic back to college subjects. 

“Mm. Think that’s down to Mr Brunner though. I don’t know if I’m interested enough to study it at college.”

“What else do you like?”

“Biology, I guess? But like, nature, not all the crap about cells.”

Annabeth huffed a laugh. “Do you like nature enough to pursue it as a career?”

“Yes I want to become chief of nature.”

“Come on, Perce.”

“Ugh I don’t know. Since when are you my career advisor?”

She shifted, unsure herself why she was being so pushy. “I don’t know I guess...you should just, find your passion.”

Percy propped himself up on his elbow, leaning over her with a compressed smile. A smile he was holding in from spreading all over his face. He dipped down to kiss her once, all sweetness. 

“You’re so cute,” he told her. 

She bit her lip, flattered and embarrassed. He was so much better at this than she was. 

“You’re cute. Shut up.”

He smiled, unperturbed, and pressed another kiss to her mouth. 

“I don’t think I’ve gotta have it all figured out right now, Annabeth.”

She shifted her gaze away from his. “Yeah.”

Percy was waiting for her, still on his elbow with a patient expression that she met with a small smile when she finally looked at him again.

She didn’t really know what to do with all that patience. 

So, instead of talking more, she put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down to her again. And Percy let out a surprised noise as he was forced to maneuver over her, propping himself on his arms on either side of her as she tugged him against her and started to smile against his mouth. Her previous worries - whatever they had been - forgotten as they made out lazily on the deck of the boat. Warmth spread all over her body like butter spread over toast, melting into her bones and making her feel sated and happy. 

But after a little bit longer, she thought of something and pulled back, popping off his mouth a little abruptly. Percy looked startled and mildly put out. 

“What about photography?” she asked him. “You’re always carrying that camera around.”

He actually groaned and dropped his head against her shoulder. “Annabeth.”

“What? Come on, it’s a great idea.”

Percy laughed as he rolled onto his back. “You’re relentless.”

She smiled and leaned up on her elbow to see him. “Like, in a good way right?”

He turned his head lazily to look at her and smiled back. “I guess.”

“You guess?!”

He laughed as she shoved him playfully and then he was grabbing her hands and they were sort of wrestling with each other. Before he had a chance to pin her, Annabeth jumped up and dove over the rail into the water, making what she was sure was an ungraceful exit. When she resurfaced, Percy was laughing at her over the side of the boat. 

“Get in here!” she shouted at him, grateful he hadn’t followed her right away else she wouldn’t have had time to readjust her bikini as she was doing now. 

“Alright alright. Let me put the ladder down or we’ll be re-enacting that film…with the um. With the boat?”

“Very articulate.”

“Fuck off. You know the one where they get stranded and there’s sharks and a baby.”

“Sounds very exciting.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Just get in here already!”

He did then, tucking his knees up to his chest and bombing into the water. He managed to make it look graceful somehow though. Everything Percy did in the water was done with ease and some level of grace. The bastard. 

He resurfaced in a style a little reminiscent of The Little Mermaid and she shoved a wave of water at him immediately. 

“We could just swim to shore,” she told him when he’d stopped sputtering. 

He gave her a dubious look, glancing over her shoulder in the direction of land. 

“You sure about that? What if the sharks get you?”

“Shut up.”

But he’d said it now and she started feeling like her legs were suddenly too exposed. Despite the clarity of the water, there was still a great big expanse below them that she couldn’t see and that suddenly made her feel nervous. It was irrational; she’d been swimming in these waters since she was a child and had only ever encountered a baby blacktip which had been far less interested in her than she’d been in it. It had also been about three hundred meters away and she’d glimpsed it pretty briefly. Nonetheless, she was now picturing a Jaws-like scene of an enormous creature gunning for them in the dark depths.

Considering it was his fault she suddenly felt so jittery, Annabeth decided to jump on him, curling her arms around his shoulders and hitching her legs up to her body. Percy laughed and wrapped one arm around her body as he used the other to help keep them afloat.

“Never pitched you for a scaredy cat.”

“Fuck off,” she said, gripping him tighter. “Don’t talk about sharks when I’m in the sea, jackass.”

He laughed again. “Sorry.”

She was never really mad to begin with, so it didn’t take much to grin at him and press that grin to his mouth, again and again.

It was all really pretty blissful until the unmistakable sound of a phone ringing on the boat. They both made a point to leave their cells on loud when they were hanging out together, just in case one of their friends or family decided to check up on them; they didn’t want to raise alarm by missing a dozen calls or texts. Which had happened a few too many times over the summer.

Now, they exchanged a startled look and both scrambled towards the boat together. By the time they made it aboard, the ringing had died out.

“Not me,” Percy said, dripping water into his bag to pull his phone out.

Annabeth’s stomach sank. That meant it was hers. She dragged her feet a little to find her own cell and felt a wave of anxiety somersault through her belly when she saw her mother’s name - her full name, not mom - next to the missed call message on her locked screen.

“Fuck,” she said, tilting it so Percy could see.

He grimaced and touched her lower back, a comforting gesture, as she dried her hands and swiped her thumb across the screen to call her mother back.

The phone rang only once before she picked up.

“Annabeth.”

“Mom, hey. Sorry I missed your call-”

“It’s alright. I’m just calling to let you know I’m about an hour away.”

Her heart stuttered. She wasn’t supposed to be back for another two days. “What?”

“I’m on the boat,” her mom said, loudly, like she couldn’t quite hear her. “My meeting tomorrow was cancelled so I decided to come home early. Where are you, are you home?”

“Um, no. I’m at the beach. I’ll go home now though.”

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to. I thought I would just ask you to let Madora know, but I can call the house-”

“No, no, it’s fine. I’m gonna be home in half an hour, I can tell her.”

A pause. Enough time for Annabeth to panic that she sounded too panicked. 

“Alright,” her mom said. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

She hung up and held the phone against her chest, ignoring the fact that she was getting it wet by doing so, and let out a long breath. Percy, who had sprung into action while she was on the phone, secured the now open main sail and went to her. She dropped her phone back into her bag and opened her arms to him.

The mood between them had shifted exponentially in just a few minutes and she was already tired of the whiplash. From joy to panic in a heartbeat. She pressed her face against the damp skin of Percy’s neck and breathed in deeply. Percy’s hands rubbed over her back as he held her closer and his own breath stuttered out next to her ear. His trepidation oddly grounded her. They were both overwhelmed in the face of this; and they were facing it together.

She drew back and pressed her forehead against his. 

“We should go,” she whispered.

He nodded, his nose brushing against hers with the movement. “Yeah.”

Then he kissed her nose and she smiled a half smile and they pulled apart, setting to work. Annabeth had told her mom she’d be back home in half an hour. It would take them twenty minutes or so to get the boat back to shore and her house was on the other side of town, so they needed to move their asses.

Just over twenty minutes later, Annabeth’s flip flops smacked against the wooden decking as she jumped down from the boat. They’d had to wait for another boat to leave before they could dock but now the coast was very much clear. Annabeth still glanced around herself nervously before she leaned up to the railing of the boat to kiss Percy goodbye. He bent over the railing to meet her and cupped her jaw in his hand. The swipe of his thumb over her cheek felt more intimate than any of the kisses they had shared today and Annabeth couldn’t help but grin at him as she pulled away.

“Call me,” she told him as she picked up a jog towards the beach.

“Bye!” he called after her.

And her heart raced the whole way home. Madora, their housekeeper, gave her a strange, knowing look when Annabeth panted that her mother would be home in half an hour. She asked why Annabeth couldn’t have told her on the phone and Annabeth didn’t know how to answer.

She hadn’t wanted to walk into a house with her mother already in it. She’d wanted to be home and settled with her school books open or a TV show half way through an episode. It felt like her mom might have less questions about where she had been, that way. Though she would still ultimately ask what she had been doing on the beach, Annabeth now had time to prepare her answer better. She could also help Madora clean up the house - though she would insist that Annabeth sit down - and feel a little productive. She always felt a little less guilty when she’d contributed to some housework.

So when her mother walked through the front door twenty five minutes later, Annabeth had helped Madora with dinner and was sitting in the kitchen with her English paper on her laptop, ready for whatever questions might be thrown her way.

* * *

 

It was October twenty second and Annabeth was lying on her back on her bed with her textbooks spread out over the covers around her. Music played softly from the speaker on her desk, a background to Percy’s voice as he recited the contents of her cue cards aloud. She wasn’t really taking in what he was saying as she stared up at the ceiling. Her attention instead was drawn to the points of her body which he was touching with his: his elbow against her ribs, his knee against her calf, his head occasionally tipping down to lean on her belly.

He wore board shorts and a spiderman t-shirt. His hair was freshly washed and soft and she couldn’t stop looking at him, really. Her attention was divided equally between the little chandelier light on her ceiling and Percy’s soft wavy hair and the low timbre of his voice.

“Annabeth?”

“Hm?” She blinked at him and found him smiling an annoying, knowing smile. “What,” she huffed, self-consciously.

Percy grinned. “You’re staring at me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I was staring at the ceiling too, don’t feel too special.”

“Hm.”

“Jealous?”

“Of the ceiling? Oh, immensely.”

“Big word.”

“Mm. I couldn’t spell it if you paid me a hundred bucks.”

“Fuck, me neither.”

“Dyslexia continues to be a bitch.”

“It sure does,” she said and nodded at the cards still in his hands. “Quiz me.”

“Alright…what’s the definition of homeostasis?”

“The maintenance of a stable internal environment.”

“Yes.” He threw down the cards. “You’re a genius.”

“Percy-” she started to object but as he shuffled over her body, it turned into a laugh, which was pressed against his mouth. “I’m gonna fail the quiz.”

He kissed her neck. “You’ll ace it,” he murmured between kisses. “You know what homeostasis is.”

“I think there might be more questions than that.” But she gripped his hair and gently guided him down her neck. 

And then she wasn’t staring at the ceiling anymore because her eyes had closed and her arms were holding him closer and her knee was bending and her hips were lifting and they were close close close. He was all she felt right then. The hard softness of him. The body of a boy growing into a man; pronounced adam’s apple, patchy stubble fighting its way into his cheeks and chin, firm chest and undefined stomach, long lean legs and arms, and long fingers too. He was gangly and lean all at once and his hair smelled like coconut and his lips were soft soft soft. 

He kissed her nose and she looked up at him smiling down at her. She reached up to push his hair off his forehead and smiled when it fell back down when she’d let it go. 

“My mom is home tomorrow,” she told him.

He groaned. “Way to ruin the mood.”

But his voice was teasing and light and he was still smiling as he rolled until they were lying face to face, heads on the same pillow. She played with the sleeve of his shirt and pushed their knees together.

“I just meant to say that this is the last time you can come over for a while.”

“So we should make the most of it?”

“Probably.”

But they just stayed as they were, letting the unusual quiet of the big house wash over them both. Annabeth’s mother had left a week ago to the mainland for work and the rest of her family had miraculously made themselves scarce. They had attempted to rope her into helping out with whatever chore they were involved with today, but she’d insisted that she had to study. And, somehow, it had worked. Annabeth could count on one hand the number of times Percy had stepped foot inside her house. He snuck in through her window; despite the house being empty, they both still felt incredibly paranoid.

Truth is, the quiet was nice, but it made them both feel a little on edge. They were both from loud, large families who never shut up long enough to hear their own thoughts, never mind the quiet birdsong she could hear outside her window now. The quiet with Percy was nice though, unhurried and peaceful. But her mind went on ahead and raced anyway. And it kept tripping back to that same thought which had been plaguing her for a few weeks.

Annabeth was brushing her thumb over the thick line of his eyebrow when she voiced that worry. 

“I haven’t told my mom about college in New York, yet.”

Percy raised the eyebrow she’d been petting. “No?”

She sighed. “I’m not really looking forward to what she’s gonna say.”

“You think she’ll disapprove?”

“She will if she finds out that’s where you’re goin’.”

“Hm.” He frowned. She tried not to think about how cute he looked when he frowned and dropped her gaze to his chest where spider man was flying through the air shouting some cuss word which had been bleeped out. “Columbia is a great college though, she can’t complain about that.”

“You’d be surprised about what she can complain about.”

“Well, she’s not gonna think you’re going to New York because I am. It’s a pretty big city.”

She gave him a dubious look. “You don’t know my mom.”

He gave her a dubious look right back. “Oh, I do actually.”

Annabeth had to smile ruefully. Her mom had taken it upon herself a few times to remind Percy exactly where he stood with their family. Annabeth knew her mom scared Percy; he was only human after all, and her mom could be a terrifying force of nature. 

After one particular incident when Percy and a couple of his buddies had been caught egging the front of Annabeth’s house, her mom had dragged him onto the street by his ear. Annabeth had watched from the window as she reprimanded a twelve year old Percy whose friends had unexpectedly loitered nearby, looking shifty and unsure. Annabeth remembered Percy’s face as her mother told him goodness knows what. 

She also remembered Sally Jackson’s face when she’d marched straight into her mom’s office the very same afternoon. Annabeth knew her mom had the grit of an ox, but she honestly feared for her a little that afternoon. She’d lingered by the doorway as Sally told her mom in a low, clear voice that if she ever laid a finger on her son again then she’d toss her ass into the ocean herself, she didn’t care how many security guards she had. 

She had also warned her of something else, too quiet for Annabeth to make out anything other than, h _ is father _ , and presume her mother had stepped over the line in that respect too. Athena and Po’s rivalry had challenged that of their original ancestors and Po’s death had prompted some less than savoury rumours about Annabeth’s mom. Annabeth wasn’t so fond of those ones. 

After that day, Annabeth had to admit a grudging respect for Percy’s mom. Not a lot of people stood up to her mom and walked away unscathed. She suspected her mother gained a little respect for Sally, too.

Sally hadn’t let Percy off though, and had insisted that they return to the Chase house to clean up every inch of egg, and to mow the lawn while they were at it. Sally must have done a better job of telling her son off because Percy and his friends had never returned to Annabeth’s house. 

Up until a few months ago, at least. 

Annabeth wondered whether her mom would disregard Sally’s threats if she were to find Percy in her house now. She thought she probably would. Hell, if she walked in and saw them like this, her mom would probably throw Percy out the window. 

“What are you thinking?” Percy asked her, voice soft. 

“Whether my mom could throw you outta my window if she was determined enough.”

Percy laughed and she smiled, helpless. “Would you stop her?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess.”

“Wow. Height of romance right here, folks.”

“That’s me.”

He pinched her cheek and grinned but a more serious look slowly drew a curtain over his expression. 

“What else are you thinking?”

And well. She could lie. She could shrug it off and tell him it’s nothing and kiss him to distract him. She could. But she surprises herself by not actually wanting to. 

“I’m just.” She breathed in, looked down at spider man again. “Moving to New York together. It’s kind of a big deal. Kind of a lot of pressure.”

Percy’s fingers continued their soothing circle on her shoulder and she glanced up to find his expression unworried. 

“I mean. We’re talking about moving to the same city, not the same house,” he said, nonchalant. 

She rolled her eyes and shoved his chest. “Come on.”

“Annabeth. Just don’t think about it too much, it’s fine.”

“Oh right, I hadn’t thought of that, thanks. I’ll just stop thinking about it.”

He leaned in to kiss the corner of her mouth. “I just mean that it doesn’t have to be as big of a deal as you think it is.”

“Hmph.”

He kissed her again at the corner of her lips and then she tilted her face up so that he met her square in the middle. And she still couldn’t really help but fall into this. Their conversation could wait. Her worries were quieter when he kissed her like this. 

Besides, they had to make the most of their access to her house while they had it. 

* * *

 

Four days later, Annabeth made her full application to Columbia, along with a smattering of other colleges - some in New York State, some on the Greek mainland. She felt happy about her choices. And when she’d consulted with her mother before applying, she’d been approving, commenting on what a good college Columbia was, so Annabeth was satisfied.

Her theia mentioned that she’d heard from her butcher who’d heard from their neighbour who’d heard from the English teacher at school (apparently) that Percy had applied for colleges in New York too.

“Oh really?” Annabeth had feigned nonchalance while her heart beat ten to the dozen. “It’s a pretty big place, I’m sure I’ll manage to avoid him.”

Her theia had fixed her with a look and Annabeth had scrounged up every drop of her resolve to keep her cool. Fortunately, Madora had requested their help and Annabeth had been let off the hook. She’d avoided her theia since.

Two days later, on the twenty eighth of October, Annabeth found herself in the middle of the Ochi Day celebration in town, wearing the traditional clothes and carrying a large greek flag with Piper. They joined the rest of their classmates walking down to the harbour where the commemorative plinth stood, bearing the names of the soldiers whose lives were lost during Greece’s resistance against Italy during World War Two. 

Along with her classmates, Annabeth had been involved with this tradition in some way or another, since infancy. They were taught the story of General Mexatas’ refusal to allow Mussolini to pass through their country, allying them with Britain in the early years of the war. It had taken up, in Annabeth’s view, a disproportionate amount of their history education. But despite her concerns of learning so little about pretty much every other war in history, she couldn’t help but get caught up in the camaraderie of this day. She was proud of her Greek ancestry and to live in this country, and this day reminded her of all the reasons why. 

She was surrounded by her classmates, dressed in the same attire as her and carrying flags of their own. Music played around them and endless members of her family lined the streets as the students filed down the road. 

It was almost enough for her to forget about the rivalry. Almost. Because the smiles and the celebrations thinly veiled the constant divide of the town. Annabeth marched among the front of the party, while she knew Percy lingered nearer the back. Last year, their roles were reversed and next year they would be again. Throughout Greece, the order of the students was guided by year group, in Elaiónas it was dictated by the family feud. Later, both families would throw their respective celebration dinners which would continue late into the night and spread over a number of small restaurants. They would be loud and raucous and by external impression, carefree, but each knew they were competing. Who could have the biggest party, the most talked about, make the most income in one evening. It was always a competition, even when it seemed like it wasn’t. 

Annabeth had loved these parties since she was little. It was one of the few nights a year she wasn’t ordered to bed while everyone ate and drank into the early hours. This was the first year she wished she could be sent to bed. That way she’d have a chance of sneaking out to see Percy. 

They’d barely crossed paths this week and it was getting to her. Their encounters in the hallway had been accompanied by snide looks and usually a comment from either of their friends. She knew it wasn’t real, she was faking too after all. But it hurt that the only interactions she’d had with Percy in over a week had been glares in the school hallways. 

She wanted to be able to smile at him as he passed by, maybe reach out and grab his hand to squeeze as they hurried to their respective classes. She wanted casual conversation by his locker and waiting for each other outside their classes. She wanted a different kind of intimacy that was impossible in their situation. It made her frustrated, and annoyed at most things. She’d snapped at Piper more than once this week and had felt immediately guilty afterwards. 

The nagging doubt about her college choices didn’t help and the fact that she couldn’t just talk to Percy for five minutes about it was driving her up the wall. Sure, they texted all the time, but this didn’t feel like a text conversation. She always felt a bit silly when she thought about bringing it up and couldn’t help feeling that this would be easier if they were face to face. 

On top of all that, she just really wanted to kiss him. A lot. 

He looked ridiculous in the get up he’d been forced into by his mom this morning, much like every other kid did here. But he was still undeniably cute. With his black hair falling over his forehead and his cheeks red from the heat of the day. She watched as he filed along with the rest of the students, having taken her position close to the memorial statue. 

Then he looked up and caught her eye and Annabeth’s heart stilled and then thump thump thumped in her chest like it was trying to get free, to him. This felt like too much, to be looking at each other like this, for so long, among all these people. Everyone they knew was within a fifty foot vicinity and Percy was looking at her not with hate masked over his features. 

Annabeth bit her lips and finally ducked her head, feeling her cheeks get hot and trying to control the smile desperate to take over her face. When she looked back up Percy had moved on and she could only see the back of his head. Eager not to be caught looking, she averted her gaze, but she was too late. 

When she looked over at Piper, she was already looking back. Her gaze steady and holding Annabeth’s immediately like fingers holding her chin. Confusion and accusation clear in her eyes. 

Annabeth desperately tried to keep her cool, meeting Piper’s gaze with her own confused look. She looked away eventually, but Annabeth knew she’d slipped. Piper was suspicious. 

Things were only about to get more difficult. 


	3. November / December

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay here you go guys! this chapter was so so much fun to write so i hope it's as fun to read :)

_ Now.  _

The cold air seeped into the town late that year, arriving all at once on a Tuesday morning in mid November with a strong gust of wind and grey skies for days. Most kids seemed to have the energy sucked out of them at the change of the seasons, Annabeth included. School became morose and serious as their end of term exams approached and they no longer had the sunshine to lift their moods.

Annabeth threw herself headfirst into studying, mostly to avoid thinking about everything else that was stressing her out. Call it sticking her head in the sand, but Annabeth couldn’t focus on so many things at once. She just wasn’t built that way. She didn’t really want to think about the commitment she’d just potentially made for the next four years, she didn’t want to think about Piper’s face on Ochi Day or the other looks that had followed, she didn’t want to think about the follow up questions her mother had about college. And she didn’t want to think about how scared she was when it came to Percy.

She’d been avoiding that thought most of all. She didn’t want to associate any negative feelings with Percy, that was in the past. A past she didn’t want to return to.

So she avoided. She offered all of her free time up to family chores - babysitting and waitressing and squeezing the stones out of olives - there were always plenty available to her. And she studied. She stayed after school and went to the library during lunch and arranged informal study groups with Piper and their friends to avoid being alone with her. And when they were alone, she suggested activities which would disrupt Piper’s impending confrontation. She couldn’t remember the last time they lay on one of their beds or the beach and just talked. She tried not to feel too guilty about it, they were still hanging out after all. But the fact that Annabeth was lying to her best friend, and now avoiding spending time with her, was starting to weigh heavily on her.

The inevitable confrontation, though, didn’t come from Piper. It came from Annabeth’s mom.

Annabeth walked into her kitchen late one evening and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw her mom sitting at the counter. She had her laptop and a glass of wine in front her her but closed the former when Annabeth looked up at her.

“Sorry, I…”

But she didn’t really know what to say. She’d been with Percy at one of their hiding places near the beach, thinking her mom was working late. Apparently she’d decided to work from home.

“I thought I’d leave work early so we could have dinner together,” her mom said. And well, fuck. “But I suppose I should have checked your plans first.”

It wasn’t said in an accusatory voice, but Annabeth felt defensive anyway.

“I was studying down by the harbour. It’s quiet there.”

Her mom nodded, her face unreadable and Annabeth just didn’t know where she stood. She hated this limbo of emotions. She’d been irritable even with Percy, who was usually her sanctum of calm, snapping when he’d asked her what was wrong. She’d apologised and he’d accepted but she’d successfully put a dampener on things and the mood hadn’t really lifted when they said goodbye to sneak back to their respective homes.

“I just wanted to talk to you about college,” her mom said, taking her off guard.

“Oh. Okay?”

“Do you want a tea?”

“Sure.”

“Green?”

“Please.”

Her mom set about making her tea and Annabeth pulled up a stool at the breakfast counter opposite, sealing her own fate. There was no backing out of this conversation now. Tea was being made. The next few minutes dragged on like lifetimes, giving Annabeth’s mind ample time to fret over the dozens of possibilities for this conversation.

Eventually, a cup of tea was placed in front of her and Annabeth looked up as her mom took her seat.

“I realise we should have had this conversation before you applied.”

Uh oh.

Annabeth swallowed. “Why’s that?”

Her mom looked surprised, smiling just a bit. “Because I’m your mother and we should probably talk about the big decisions in your life.”

“Right. Yeah. It’s okay, though.”

She nodded. “Can I ask why you decided on New York schools?”

Annabeth swallowed again. She was swallowing too much, it made her look guilty. She tried to focus her energy on not looking guilty.

“Most people apply to schools in the States,” she said, trying not to sound defensive.

“Yes, I’m aware of that. I’m just curious as to why you decided on East Coast. I thought you and Piper had always talked about California.”

“When we were kids,” Annabeth said. “We were just kids.”

“I know. I just, I didn’t realise you’d changed your mind. Is Piper going East Coast too?”

“I...no. She wants to be closer to her dad.”

Her mom nodded and Annabeth tried not to let the guilt creep up her throat but it was already there, rising like bile.

“I’ve always loved Columbia though,” she said, desperate to defend her choices.

And it was true, she’d first discovered Columbia when she was fifteen, shortly after deciding architecture was her dream, and had fallen in love. Her commitment had grown less intense over the years as she looked at other schools, but she still knew it was a good school. And then there was the other reason she for applying to schools in New York, but she wasn’t about to tell her mom about that.

Her mom nodded. “Percy Jackson and his mother are moving to New York.”

Annabeth felt her breath catch. She hadn’t expected such bluntness.

“Yeah,” she said. Pretending she didn’t know would never be believable. It was a small town and people talked. “I heard that.”

Her mom nodded. “Did you know before you applied?”

“No.” It rolled off her tongue before she could catch it. A lie. Her umpteenth one to her mother over the past few months. “I didn’t.”

“Would you have still applied if you’d known?”

Annabeth sighed harshly. “What?”

Her mom levelled her with a gaze Annabeth knew to be usually reserved for her meeting rooms. She didn’t elaborate and Annabeth was left reeling in defensiveness.

“What are you asking me?” she ended up saying.

Her mom shrugged and took a sip of her tea. “Perhaps...Why would you want to carry the troubles of this island with you halfway across the world.”

“Who said I do?”

A raised eyebrow.

“It’s a big city,” Annabeth said. “Much bigger than this island. And we wouldn’t even be going to the same school.”

“How do you know that?”

“I...I don’t. I just assumed.”

To her surprise, her mom nodded. “That’s a fair assumption. I doubt he’ll be attending Columbia.”

Her derisive little scoff prickled under Annabeth’s skin. “He’s smart,” she said before she could stop herself. “I mean, I don’t like him. But I don’t need to make stuff up about him to insult him.”

Her mom’s gaze had sharpened again as she returned to her argument. “It’s easy, when you move to an entirely new place, to become drawn to something you know. Even if it’s not something you like.”

Annabeth’s fingers gripped her tea cup. “Mom. I’m not moving to New York to settle down with Percy Jackson, for god’s sake. I don’t care where he goes or what he does. When I move away from this island, this stupid hatred will be staying here and not coming with me.”

“So you’re putting us behind you?”

Annabeth stood up, breathing in and pressing her fingernails into her palms. She hated arguing with her mom. She always became frustrated so easily while her mom sat there, calm as anything and twisted her own words around until they became daggers pressed to her own chest.

“No, mom. I’m not. I just don’t want the rest of my life to be ruled by this rivalry which doesn’t really have anything to do with me.”

Her mom’s facade flickered, a strip of anger bleeding through. “Annabeth, that family nearly destroyed my entire company. Everything I’ve ever worked for, to support you-”

“Please don’t guilt trip me, mom. I’m not in the mood.”

“Annabeth-”

“What? What do you want me to say?”

Her mom took a breath in and out, watching her from where she still sat at the breakfast counter. “I want you to tell me that you’re being honest with me, because I feel like you’re hiding something from me.”

Annabeth felt all the breath in her lungs leave her. She was tired, so tired, of hiding so much from everybody. “I’m being honest with you, mom.”

She met her mom’s eyes, searching for something that might bring her comfort. Instead, she found something not dissimilar to disappointment. Like she knew her daughter was still lying to her. And she told her, “Okay. I’m sorry.” but it felt worse than the accusations she’d thrown Annabeth’s way, because Annabeth knew she was lying too.

* * *

 

Annabeth and her mom didn’t really resolve their arguments. They had a mutual agreement that had been in place since Annabeth was old enough to remember, that it was better to pretend it didn’t happen. So the next morning wasn’t really awkward like it should have been because they’d both grown so used to brushing things under the rug and pretending it didn’t happen. The rest of their family couldn’t understand it. They bickered and argued until a resolution was wrangled, like a plant grasped from the soil, roots and all, into a preferred state.

Annabeth’s auntie and uncle were in the kitchen eating breakfast with her mom and Piper when Annabeth came downstairs. It wasn’t an unusual sight, but Annabeth concluded immediately that this would result in firstly, questions from her auntie and uncle, and secondly, alone time with Piper without any distractions.

She made her way over to the fridge as calmly as possible and grabbed a yogurt. She sat down next to Piper and smiled.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Piper said. “I was up early so figured I’d meet you here.”

“You feeling okay?” Annabeth teased, feeling her forehead.

Piper laughed - oh thank the gods, she laughed - and batted her hand away. “I get up early sometimes.”

“Okay.”

“I do!”

“Okay.”

“Quit saying okay!”

Annabeth laughed and her chest felt a little bit lighter. She didn’t deserve Piper, truly.

But just as her mood had lifted, it dropped again as her mom paused in front of her. “Annabeth, I’m heading out straight after lunch today. Your aunt and uncle have agreed to have you at theirs while I’m gone.”

“What? Why?”

Annabeth was usually trusted to stay at home and was kept plenty company by any number of relatives who passed through the house while her mom was gone. Panic started to set in as she realised her mom was relinquishing her previous trusted freedom.

Her mom wasn’t looking at her as she answered. “They don’t have time to come here, Annabeth. It’s an inconvenience.”

“It’s no trouble, _kopelia_ ,” her auntie said earnestly, using her favourite term of endearment for Annabeth as she reached out a hand to her. “It’s just easier with the baby. We have room, darling, and you can help your cousin with his homework. You’re so good at that.”

“The restaurant is so busy, Annoula,” her uncle added, both of them making up for her own mom’s coldness. “We love having you stay with us.”

“I do too, theíos. Thank you.”

She didn’t want to be rude, and she truly loved staying with her extended family in their loud and bustling homes. But she couldn’t help but feel like her mom was assigning extra monitoring. She really didn’t trust her.

“I’ll be back in three weeks,” her mom said.

Three weeks.

Which meant three weeks of absolutely no unmonitored time. Which meant no alone time with Percy for three whole weeks, other than the brief, panicked moments they could grab at school.

“Okay,” Annabeth said, defeated.

Her mom rounded the table and kissed the top of Annabeth’s head. Inexplicably, Annabeth felt her eyes watering and avoided eye contact with everybody as her mom said her goodbyes and left.

“Alright, you two should get to school,” her auntie said. “We’ll see you straight after school.”

Annabeth frowned. “I need to pack some stuff.”

“Oh we’ll do that for you.”

Her frown deepened. “ _Theítsa_ ,” she complained. “Can I please pack my own things? I don’t want to have to come back if you forget things.”

Her auntie and uncle exchanged a look. Clearly this was not in the conditions they’d agreed with her mother.

“I’ll come straight over. I promise. Come on, theíos,” she pleaded to her uncle. “I’m not a kid, I can pack my own bag.”

He sighed. “Okay, kopelia. Come straight to ours after, we need you to help with dinner.”

“Okay,” she agreed, before they could back out.

She went over to kiss them both on the cheeks and dragged Piper out of the kitchen before her auntie could insist otherwise. They were halfway up the road from her house before Annabeth slowed her pace to a walk.

Piper laughed. “We look like fugitives.”

“I am a fugitive!” Annabeth insisted, catching her breath. “I’m gonna be kept captive for the next three weeks!”

“Is that’s why you lied about this afternoon?”

Panic distilled her veins. She adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder “What?”

Piper looked at her sideways. “You have free period. You could totally get home earlier to pick up your stuff before you go to theirs.”

“Oh. Yeah. I just wanted a little more freedom, you know? I love them but I know I’m gonna need a nap to prepare for that house.”

Piper laughed. “Fair enough.”

Annabeth released a quiet breath of relief. Truthfully, she and Percy had already made plans to meet up during that period and she, now more than ever, wanted to make sure their plans went ahead. She wasn’t looking forward to breaking the news to him about the next few weeks.

It was a few moments before either of them spoke again. Piper broke the silence with her casual charm.

“So, I realised we never talked about our college applications.”

Annabeth’s heart sped up in panic. Amongst the drama of this morning, she’d forgotten she was nervous about spending alone time with Piper.

“Didn’t we? You applied to UCLA.”

“Yeah. I mean, like, before. We usually consult each other about every decision in our lives including what flavour chips to get. We sort of...skipped that, I don’t know.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Piper shrugged. “It was both of us, I guess.”

But it wasn’t. Annabeth summoned some courage and swallowed what was left of her pride. “I know we always said we’d both go West Coast.”

Piper looked at her with a small considering frown. “We were kids. I’m not mad at you for abandoning me or anything like that.”

“Okay.”

A sigh. “I just. I guess I realised I didn’t know why my best friend applied to the colleges she did and, I don’t know. I don’t know how that happened.”

Annabeth needed to be careful here. “I didn’t mean to be secretive about it, I think I just...I think I was probably hiding from my mom and ended up hiding from everyone.”

“She doesn’t approve of your choices?”

“I’m on lock down, remember?”

Piper’s eyebrows raised. “For that? Jeez I thought it was because of you sneaking out all the time.”

Piper really was more perceptive than Annabeth gave her credit for.

“I mean, that’s a contributing factor.” She took a breath and decided to bring a little bit of the truth into things. “She thinks I’m gonna run off with Percy Jackson.”

Piper let out a loud laugh, one big “ _Hah!_ ” Shocked out of her. “Why the hell?”

“He’s applied to colleges in New York too.”

Annabeth’s heart was beating so fast she was afraid Piper could hear it. She worked hard on keeping her expression calm, years of practice with her mom left her feeling fairly confident about it.

“Along with half a dozen other people in our year,” Piper pointed out and why couldn’t she be there for Annabeth’s argument with her mom about this. “It’s a big city.”

“Ugh I know, but you know what she’s like. When she gets an idea in her head she won’t let it go.”

“Jesus. I’m sorry, man. That sucks.”

Annabeth shrugged. “It’ll pass.”

“For sure. Gods, that’s crazy though. Imagine her thinking you and Percy would, what? Become best friends? Start dating? Hah!”

Annabeth forced herself to laugh along. “Yeah I know. She’s reaching.”

“For the stars. You two can’t even be in a classroom together. How would you be in a relationship?”

This time Annabeth had to bite back a smile.  Not so long ago she thought the exact same thing, how things have changed.

“Yeah,” she said. “She’s not thinking straight.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “And anyway, as if your mom thinks you’d let an important decision like that be influenced by a boy. She knows you’re smarter than that.”

Her brief moment of light joy was squashed. “What do you mean?”

Piper wasn’t looking at her, too caught up in her small outrage of Annabeth’s mother’s opinion of her. “I mean. I’d be insulted if I was you! First of all, she thinks you’re gonna run off with your sworn enemy like this is Romeo and frickin Juliet. And second, she’s insinuating that you’d make one of the most important decisions of your life based on a relationship you may or may not get into at the age of seventeen.” She scoffed. “I thought she gave you more credit than that.”

“Yeah.”

Annabeth’s whole body felt stiff and unfamiliar as Piper’s words sunk in. It wasn’t that they were new, it was exactly the opposite. It was the fact that Piper just reiterated her very own concerns which had been battling around inside her head for the past month. Hearing them said out loud without Percy here to make his usual argument against them just made Annabeth’s worries all the more real.

She’d committed the next four years of her life and as much as Percy could tell her that Columbia was a great school, there were so many others that she’d passed up on.

“...My projaja didn’t find it funny.”

Annabeth had been so caught up in her own head that she’d completely missed what Piper has been saying.

“What? Sorry,” she apologised.

Piper rolled her eyes, but it was playful. She tapped Annabeth’s head. “The attention span of a mayfly. I was saying I applied to Stanford for the hell of it.”

“Oh my god are you kidding me?”

Piper laughed. “Nope! I mean UCLA is my first choice and San Francisco State and San Diego are fairly safe, so I figured why not. I kinda like to test which places let me in cause of my last name.”

Annabeth burst out laughing. “I can’t believe you.”

Piper smirked and elbowed her. “Let’s see who’s laughing when you’re visiting me at an Ivy League school.”

“What if you get in?”

“Shut up.”

“No I’m serious! You’re smart as hell, Pipes.”

“Pft. I’m smart enough for college. You have to be subhuman to get into Stanford. The place will be filled with robots. I don’t wanna be surrounded by people who are all smarter than me, that’s no fun.”

“You’d think you’d be used to that by now,” Annabeth ribbed.

Piper shoved her, mock gasping. “Rude! You were just saying how smart I am.”

She shrugged. “Gotta keep your ego in check I guess.”

“Oh speaking of ego, my mom’s back from her trip.”

Annabeth laughed. Piper’s relationship with her mom was complicated and loving all at once. She was the only one who could say something like that about her and get away with it.

“Lucky you,” Annabeth said.

Piper grinned. “I’ve missed her, honestly. We’re having ‘catch up’ over the macaroons she brought back from Paris tonight.”

“Well that’ll be nice.”

And she meant it.

Annabeth often felt envious of Piper’s relationship with her mom. Though complicated - what mother daughter relationship wasn’t? - they were undeniably close and shared almost everything. Piper grumbled about it, but Annabeth knew she appreciated the openness in their relationship. From a young age, Piper had been encouraged to talk freely about her emotions, while Annabeth had managed to train herself to keep them clamped down, like the lid of a Tupperware box. She was easing up, under Piper’s influence - and now Percy’s - but some habits were hard to kick. Especially with her own mom.

Piper was just far more emotionally well adjusted than Annabeth. She was also a much better friend than Annabeth was being at the moment.  Annabeth owed her more than she’d been giving, and she was going to make it up to her.

* * *

 

Percy scrambled in through her bedroom window that afternoon as was their usual protocol and collapsed face first onto her rug.

Annabeth looked over her shoulder from where she was packing her bag. “Smooth.”

He groaned from the rug. “Thanks for the help.” Pulling himself up, he dropped his backpack on the floor next to the window and made his way over to her, placing his hands lightly on her sides as he kissed her cheek from behind.

“Hi,” she said.

“You’re packing,” was his reply.

“Mhm.” She hadn’t had the heart to text him the news about staying with her aunt and uncle during school. Or maybe it was the guts she was lacking. Percy squeezed her sides and moved to lie on her bed.

“You planning to runaway?”

“Oh yeah. I’m making a break for it.”

“Can I come with?”

“I don’t know. You might drag me down.”

“I mean that’s rude, Annabeth. I think I’d be a great asset.”

She pushed her pyjamas into her bag and zipped it closed. “Maybe I could take you on a trial period.”

Percy raised his eyebrows as she climbed into the bed. “Oh yeah?”

“Mhm. But you’re on a three strike system.”

He reached for her. “That’s super generous of you.”

“I’m a super generous person,” she said, letting her body close over his and pressing her smile to his mouth.

He was letting her deflect and she appreciated it. He was always patient with her, always gave her time to voice whatever was on her mind in her own time. It was possibly detrimental at times given her habit of avoiding talking about most issues that bothered her. But, she thought, there was no real getting out of this one.

“I’m staying at my aunts while my mom’s away.”

Percy’s surprise registered in the pull of his brows and the space he created between them both. His hand on her hip as she rolled onto her side to lay next to him.

“For how long?” he asked.

“Three weeks.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“Well. That’s gonna suck.”

She nodded. “Yeah I’m sorry.”

He tucked some of her hair behind her ear and she leaned into him, still, after months of this, needy for physical affection.

“It’s not your fault,” he said. “I mean, I’m assuming it’s not.”

She half smiled. “It’s not. I think my mom wants me under supervision.”

Panic entered Percy’s expression. “Do you think she knows something?”

“No. Or, I don’t know. She’s getting on my back about colleges.”

“She doesn’t like your choices?”

“I think. I don’t know, she brought up that you’re going to New York too and...it felt like she said it to see my reaction more than anything else. I don’t think she genuinely believes you and me could be together.”

“Yeah, who would believe that?”

She returned his half smile with her own. “I think she’s worried about what will happen when I leave the island.”

“That was always gonna happen.”

She nodded. “I’m her only kid. It can’t be an easy thing to come to terms with.”

“Why didn’t she just say that?”

She scoffed. “My mom is not like your mom.”

He frowned a little more, like he’d gotten an answer he hadn’t expected. Which was weird. Annabeth thought he knew how complicated her relationship with her mom could get. She at least thought he’d figured out where she got her bad-at-communicating skills from.

“That sucks,” he said. “She’s supposed to be the adult, not you.”

“It’s not like that.”

Percy gave her a look which really just annoyed her more than anything.

“No, I mean. I’ve never doubted that my mom loves me and she’s always taken care of me, and when she couldn’t do it herself, she made sure the rest of my family could.”

“Shouldn’t she have just...been there?”

“She has a business to run. A business which supports half of my extended family, by the way.”

“I didn’t mean-”

“She couldn’t be a stay at home mom and I’m not mad about that. I’d be a hypocrite if I was.”

Percy nodded slowly. “Right. I didn’t mean…I just.” He sighed. “We grew up with real similar families but our moms are pretty different, huh?”

She nodded, her annoyance which had snapped like an elastic band now relaxing again.

“She loves me,” she repeated, because it felt important to do so. Percy nodded. “But she’s very prideful, and telling people that she’d struggle without them is really hard for her.”

Percy stroked her hair again. “That’s a lotta insight you’ve got there.”

Annabeth shrugged. “My theíos talked to me about it a few years ago. He’s her brother and he knows how she can be. He wanted me to know…”

“That she loves you.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

She looked at him. At his quietly contemplative expression. The slight furrow of his brow and the tuck of his bottom lip between his teeth. She looked at him and she wondered what life would bring to them in the next year. She wondered if their families would ever accept their relationship. She wondered what Percy would look like in his college sweatshirt and she smiled at the image painted in her head.

“Okay,” she told him.

And just when things seemed like they would be okay, they went to shit.

Percy got up to go to the bathroom, opening the door while looking back at her and strolling straight out into the hallway. Annabeth sprang off the bed after him and watched him close the bathroom door after himself just as her aunt walked up the stairs onto the landing.

Annabeth froze in her doorway. “Theítsa,” she stuttered. “What are you doing here?”

“Your mother asked me to pick something up for her.” She placed her hands on her wide hips. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at school?”

“I, um. I finished early. Figured I’d do some homework before coming to yours.”

“Okay.” She said the word slowly, dragging out the second syllable like she didn’t quite believe Annabeth.

Dammit, she was usually better at lying than this.

“You can come back with me then,” her aunt said.

No she couldn’t, because Percy was still in her bathroom.

“I gotta finish this assignment,” she said. “You know I won’t be able to focus with Maria all over me.”

Her aunt squinted. “Okay. You come straight away when you’re done. Are you packed?”

Annabeth nodded. “Mhm. Did that as soon as I got home.”

She stepped aside so her aunt could see the bag at the foot of her bed.

Her aunt looked and then nodded. “Good girl. I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye, theítsa.”

Annabeth waited in her doorway while her aunt collected something from her mother’s room and walked past her again, slowly down the steps, and out the front door. She thumped her head back against the doorway, closing her eyes.

“Can I come out?” Percy’s muffled voice came from the bathroom.

“Yeah,” she sighed.

Percy appeared, pulling an _oops_ face and Annabeth’s tether had officially been reached.

“You have to be more careful!”

Percy held up his hands. “Woah. How could I have known she was here. You said you were home alone.”

“I thought I was, but she clearly came to check on me.”

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“You’re supposed to check the hall before you just walk out there. How do you not know this by now?”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a kid, Annabeth.”

“Well try and be responsible then I won’t have to.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? We’re fine, we didn’t get caught.”

“Yeah. By pure chance. If she’d walked up those stairs one second earlier. Or- fuck. What if she did see-?”

Percy grabbed her shoulders. “Annabeth. She didn’t see. She would have said something if she’d seen. She would have chased me out of here.”

She shook herself free of him. “This isn’t a joke!”

“Yeah I know. But it’s not the end of the world like you’re pretending it is. Annabeth, it was a close shave. Yes I should have checked, yes I’m sorry. But you need to stop yelling at me like I just ran down the street yelling my love for you.”

Annabeth clenched her jaw and tried vaguely to process his words, but the only emotion she could process in that moment was anger and it wasn’t budging any time soon. So she clenched her jaw and looked away from him.

She heard Percy take a steady breath. She still didn’t look at him. A moment passed, and then another one.

“Fine,” he said eventually. “If you want to talk to me about what’s going on instead of just yelling that I’m an idiot then let me know.”

Annabeth didn’t watch as he slid out the window and closed it behind him. She didn’t follow and watch him go as she usually would have done. She didn’t blow a kiss to him or roll her eyes as he pressed himself to the wall like a ninja. She just stood there as her breaths tugged themselves in and out of her chest like a metronome, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Building a momentum she couldn’t stop or control.

When her breaths eventually calmed and she sat on the edge of her bed, allowing the anger to realise itself again as panic and then for that to subside into guilt, Percy’s words finally filtered into her psyche.

_My love for you._

* * *

 

_Before._

Percy had always loved the beach. Loved the hot sand that moulded around his body, loved the calm of the lapping waves or the storm of the thunderous ones - the way they drowned everything out, even the thoughts in his head. He loved the shifting tints of blue and the way he could look out and see little humpbacks of neighbouring islands from the shore. Like this island was still part of the world.

It was his place, in many ways.

His mom had always brought him down to the beach since he was little and she’d look out at the ocean and tell him about his father. He knew his father died at sea, a boating accident which much of his family had aggressively refused to accept as an accident. But he wasn’t afraid of the ocean. He revered it, respected the fierce danger of it, but he saw the immense beauty of it too. The endless blues which merged into greens and darker blues until it met the swallowing black depth. It roared and crashed and devoured. It sat like a millpond, gently ebbing at the sand before shrinking back again, like deep breaths in and out. A giant sleeping.

Percy stood with his ankles in the surf. The beast was asleep today and he watched, hoping it’s slow breaths would calm his jitteriness.

It wasn’t working.

In the whole twelve years of his life that he’d lived on this island, this trick hadn’t failed. Even when he was a teething baby his mom said she’d carry him in her arms down to the water and he’d stop wailing and sleep.

After another moment and a slightly resentful glare towards the body of water, Percy turned to walk back up the beach where his best friend was woefully attempting to play his homemade set of reed pipes.

He was….not great.

Percy flung himself down on the sand next to him and listened to a couple of minutes of Grover blowing into the badly carved wooden holes of his instrument. He tried to work out the tune but could only hear a Britney Spears song. Which it possibly was, knowing Grover as he did.

Eventually, Grover put his pipes down in his lap and leaned back on his hands next to Percy.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

Percy looked at him, mildly startled. “Nothing.”

Grover’s frown deepened. “You’re all weird. Somethings wrong.”

It was. It really was.

Percy took in a deep breath but it did nothing to calm his nerves.

“If I tell you, you have to swear you’ll never tell anyone for as long as you live.”

Grover looked scared but he nodded. “Of course, buddy.”

Another deep breath. He closed his eyes for good measure too. “I think I have a crush on Annabeth Chase.”

He said it so quickly he wasn’t sure if Grover understood him, but then,

“But she’s an Onassis!” he yelled.

Percy’s eyes snapped open and he snapped his head around to check the beach was still occupied by just the two of them.

“Yeah,” he said in a far more hushed tone than Grover had. “I know that. Why do you think I’m freaking out?”

Grover was staring at him wide eyed and Percy shoved his shoulder to get him to snap out of it.

“Annabeth Chase?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“Uh huh.”

“For...how long?”

Percy shrugged, suddenly feeling uncomfortable about discussing his crush. These things were awkward enough without mortal enemies being brought into the mix, and he was beginning to understand why people didn’t enjoy talking about this stuff.

“Like since the start of the semester.”

“You know you can’t like…”

“Of course I know. She hates my guts anyway.”

“She does,” Grover agreed.

Percy sighed. “Anyway it’s just a crush. I’m sure it’ll pass.”

Grover patted his shoulder. “I’m sure it will too. Hey, do you want me to play some music to take your mind off of it? I’ve nearly nailed this Britney song.”

_He knew it._

“Sure, I’m all ears.”

* * *

 

_Then (again)._

For Percy’s fifteenth birthday, his mom bought him a brand new film camera. She wrapped it in blue seashell wrapping paper and watched nervously as he tore it open.

He’d been taking photos with his phone and his mom’s old camera over the past year and his mom had boasted about his natural eye. He didn’t really know what that meant but he knew he liked seeing how things could fit into a shot and loved the satisfaction of when it turned out well. He hadn’t used film before though, so this would be a new skill to learn.

“I love it,” he told her, genuinely.

Her nervous expression cracked into a hopeful smile. “Really?”

“Yeah it’s awesome. Thanks, mom.”

She let out a relieved breath. “I checked with the school and they have a black room you can use to develop the photos. I know it’s old fashioned and a digital camera would probably have been better, but I saw it and I pictured you carrying it around your neck-”

“Mom,” he interrupted, laughing. “I mean it. It’s perfect.”

She grinned at him. “Good.”

It hadn’t taken Percy long to get to grips with the camera, using up half a reel just that day as he happily snapped photos of his family as they celebrated his birthday. Upon realising the relative expense of camera reel, he became more restrained with his shots and slowly learned to take his time getting the right angle and figuring out composition for pictures.

A couple of weeks after his birthday, just before school was about to start again, found Percy in the town square. He was enjoying an afternoon off from helping his family or doing his summer reading as he sat under the old olive tree and occasionally lifted his camera to look through the lense for a pretty shot.

Then there was a flash of blonde that caught his eye. Curly strands flying loose in the warm wind as it swept through the square, holding Percy’s gaze as locals and tourists walked past, blocking his view. He couldn’t make out her face but he lifted his camera anyway, drawn like a fly to a flame. He breathed in once and out again as he pressed down on the button and heard the shutter go off.

By the time he looked up again, she was gone.

It wasn’t until a few days later that Percy was able to develop the film in the black room at his school. He was still getting to grips with the practice of it and was carefully pegging up each photograph on the little strings hanging across the room.

There were far too many from his birthday, mostly out of focus and poorly compositioned, but some of them were okay. There were a few ones from the day in the square which looked pretty good, and one which caught his eye as soon as the definition started to bleed in. Gold was the first colour he saw and he couldn’t quite believe he didn’t recognise her that day, because now it was hitting him like a truck.

Annabeth Chase.

Wearing an apron around her waist and a white t-shirt with the name of her family’s restaurant across the front. She was taking someone’s order and smiling at them, an expression he wasn’t all that familiar with.

It felt stable to see her like this, like he was looking through someone else’s eyes. She was his nemesis, the girl who nearly made him fail eighth grade and who made up an annoying rhyme about him which stuck for two whole months. She was evil, annoying, proud, and self righteous.

But, right then, he couldn’t help but think about how pretty she looked.

It was like he was twelve years old again with his first crush. One which had swiftly and effectively been swept under the rug as he got to know how mean she could be. But right now, all he saw was a pretty blonde girl with princess curls and a smile like sunlight.

Percy stared at the photo until it was fully developed, and then for another minute or so for good measure. Then he reasoned that she stood out to him because she’s his sworn enemy and thinking she’s pretty really didn’t change how mean she could be to him. It didn’t change anything at all, actually.

As he carefully unpegged the rest of the photos, he vowed not to think about this again. But instead of throwing that photo away, he tucked it carefully away along with the rest of them, unable to explain even to himself why.

* * *

 

_ Now. _

Over the next few weeks they talked and didn’t talk. Staying with her aunt and uncle meant that Annabeth really had no time outside of school to get away and neither of them had time during school hours to spare. They texted mostly, which meant skirting around the argument after Annabeth sent an embarrassed apology the morning after their argument.

So school ended for winter break and Christmas came and went in a blur. Annabeth’s mom made it back on Christmas Eve and they spent the following days together at her aunt and uncle’s along with several of Annabeth’s cousins.

It wasn’t until New Year’s Eve that they managed to choreograph a meet up to exchange Christmas gifts. Both of their families were hosting parties which had started at noon and wouldn’t end until almost day break.

At 23.35 Annabeth feigned illness and kissed a dozen family members cheeks before retiring to bed. She assured her theíos that she could walk home by herself and managed to excuse herself without too much fuss to make a break for it. She texted as much to Percy and received a thumbs up from him a moment later.

The town was mostly quiet, with bubbles of noise pouring from a few houses and restaurants where people had gathered to celebrate. She was able to make her way up the hill undisturbed with relative ease and before she knew it, she was walking up the grassy coastline towards her meeting spot with Percy. The wind off the ocean was cold and whipped her hair around her shoulders, making her glad for the sweater she’d worn. She could hear the ocean below her, lapping calmly at the rocky base of the hill she walked up now. She could see the lights strung up on the boats in the harbour, still leftover from Christmas. They looked tiny from up here, the colours blinking together and hovering above the water in the darkness. It was an age old tradition, carried into their homes as well as they decorated model sailing boats with fairy lights and pointed them towards the hearth, as a symbol of safe passage for sailors. The sight of the lights in the harbour filled Annabeth’s chest with warmth as she walked up the hillside. She knew this track by heart but the moonlight helped guide her way through the rocky undergrowth that threatened to trip her with every step.

When she reached the spring, another figure was already sitting next to it. Percy was facing the ocean, his arms hooked over his bent knees as the wind lifted his hair off his forehead. His silhouette was beautiful in the moonlight and it hit her quite sharply just then how much she’d missed being with him.

“Hi,” she said, raising her voice over the wind.

Percy lifted his head to look up at her. “Hey.”

His voice was warm so she sat down next to him to claim some of that warmth, leaning into him as he lifted an arm to wrap around her. He kissed the side of her head and she tucked her smile beneath a bitten lip. They sat quietly for a few moments, watching the horizon as the moon flowed above them. In the distance an island rose out of the sea and was lined with blinking red lights which came in and out of view as the wind turbines they were attached to spun around and round.

After a few minutes, Annabeth shifted to reach into her pocket and pulled out a small wrapped package. She dropped it in Percy’s lap.

“Merry belated Christmas,” she told him.

He laughed. “Thanks.”

He unhooked his arm from around her shoulders to open the present and Annabeth pulled her phone out of her pocket to direct the torch at it. On a long piece of string hung a single conical shell, a small hole chiselled through the top to allow the string to pass through. Percy held it in his palm and swiped his thumb over the smooth surface of the shell.

“It’s from the first time we went to the beach together,” she explained. “Before we started dating.”

He tilted his head towards her. “You mean when we hated each other.”

She rolled her eyes. “We’d stopped hating each other by then.”

“Speak for yourself.”

She elbowed him and he laughed and god, she’d missed that laugh. “Shut up.”

He looked at her, the angles of his face catching the harsh light from her phone. “You picked it up then?”

“Mhm.”

“Who knew you were so sentimental.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“That’s alright. We’ll work through it.”

He leaned away from her to pass the necklace over his head. The shell settled low on his chest where it would most often be hidden by his clothes, but always there. A weird sort of analogy of their relationship.

“Thank you,” he said, leaning to kiss her properly. “I love it.”

She smiled, finally feeling warmer from his kiss. “You’re welcome.”

He kissed her lips once more before reaching beside him to grab a larger package and place it in her lap. It was still fairly small, the size and vague shape of a short paperback, with uneven sides and a dip in the middle. It felt like a frame.

“Stop feeling it up already and open it,” Percy complained.

She laughed. “Sorry.”

She opened the present with only a little more delicacy than Percy had opened his and stuffed the wrapping paper into the kangaroo pouch of Percy’s hoodie. She was left holding what was correctly assumed to be a wooden frame, carefully decorated with little seashells all around the edge. Percy held up her phone to illuminate the photo and when she saw it she felt her breath stumble into her lungs like a startled animal.

It was her, but not as she recognised. It was always strange seeing a photograph of yourself that you didn’t know had been taken, but this felt stranger still. This was old, from two years ago at least. Her hair was longer, less tamed, and her body still young. She’d gained a few inches in height since then and some more shape to her frame. She was smiling, pushing dimples into her cheeks and crinkles around her eyes and she thought that maybe this was how Percy might have seen her.

“When was this?” she asked him.

“A few years ago.” He sounded nervous. “When I first got my film camera. I was taking pictures in the square - practicing, you know? And I snapped one of you. Didn’t realise it until I developed them.”

“Mhm and I’m supposed to believe you weren’t stalking me from the bushes? I bet you have a hundred of these.”

“Oh thousands,” he joked.

She grinned, tilting her head so he could see it. “You kept it.”

His gaze was steady on hers. He nodded. “I kept it. Couldn’t explain to you why I did, but I kept it.

Annabeth kissed him, because she couldn’t not. “Thank you,” she pressed to his lips.

He kissed her back, cradling her neck in his hand as she leaned into him, reaching her arm around his back and gripping the fabric of his hoodie.

“I knew you had a crush on me,” she mumbled a few moments later.

He laughed like it was startled out of him. “Fuck off. I’m tryna be romantic.”

“Well it worked,” she told him, and she kissed him again.

They ended up leaning against each other watching the moonlight against the ocean. A glance at Percy’s watch told them they had fifteen minutes until midnight. Only fifteen more minutes of this year. It was strange to think how much had changed since January first, and now it was about to roll around again. Annabeth couldn’t help but wonder how much change the next year would bring. She hoped it would be good.

 _Gods_ , she hoped it would be good.

She figured she needed to deal with some unresolved things from this year before bounding hopefully into the next one.

“We should talk about our fight,” she said.

Percy stiffened next to her. “Oh?”

Annabeth lifted her head from his shoulder to look at him. She nodded. “I was an ass.”

That shook a laugh out of him. “Okay.”

“See, I do this thing where I try to deal with everything myself rather than talk to people about my feelings.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

She frowned. “You did?”

He nodded, frowning like it was obvious. Maybe it was. She wondered vaguely if everyone in her life could read her like a book or if it was just Percy.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked him.

He gave her a look. “How do you think that would have gone down?”

She ducked her chin. “Right. Sorry.”

He nudged her. “It’s cool. Hey, nobody’s perfect. Even you. It makes me like you even more actually.”

Annabeth laughed. “What? That I’m emotionally stunted?”

“Well, stunted is a strong word…”

She rolled her eyes and elbowed him. “Anyway. The point stands, I’m sorry.”

“Okay. You’re forgiven. You wanna talk to me about those feelings yet?”

She shrugged. “I think...I don’t know. I think it got to me how much I’m keeping from Piper. I hadn’t even told her which colleges I applied to. I think the whole hiding a secret from everybody I love was really getting to me and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Percy rubbed her shoulder. “What made you think you couldn’t talk to me about any of that? You know I’m going through the same stuff, right?”

True was she hadn’t really thought about it. She’d been too wrapped up in her own emotions to contemplate another person’s.

“I don’t think it was an active decision. It’s just...habit, I guess.”

He nodded.

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

Percy smiled at her. “Stop apologising. You did that already.”

“But there’s more stuff to apologise for,” she insisted.

“I mean, I didn’t talk about it either. Seems like this is stuff for both of us to work on.”

“How’d you get to be so emotionally mature. What the fuck?”

He laughed. “My mom drilled it into me.”

She bit her lip, sobered at the unspoken comparison.

Percy squeezed his arm around her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”

She shook her head and smiled at him. “Now who’s needlessly apologising.”

His face was very close to hers, his eyes were white and black flecks in the moonlight, his cheekbones made of marble, and his lips porcelain. She tipped closer to kiss him, slowly and with care, like he really was made of the delicate material.

The wind whipped around them but the space between them was still, halted in the moment as their body heat pressed close between them and held them carefully. Their lips caught and caught as Percy tilted his head and Annabeth gripped the collar of his hoodie, catching the string of the necklace between her fingers and she held on so tightly. She didn’t want to let him go ever again.

But.

Their foreheads rested together and she sighed heavily.

“I don’t think we can do this between just us anymore,” she admitted, and it felt enormous.

Percy nodded, moving against her instead of shifting away. “I don’t know what this means,” he said, his voice quiet and scared.

“Me neither. But I think that’s okay.”

His mouth quirked. “Now who’s the emotionally mature one.”

She snorted, finally allowing space between them. “Hardly.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear - a futile effort in this wind. “We need to tell someone.”

She’d been thinking the same thing, but hearing it out loud sent a jolt through her. They’d kept this secret between just the two of them for over six months and it was pulling them apart from each other. Perhaps it was just too much to carry between the two of them. Perhaps they each just needed another person to complain to about each other or about their situation. They were seventeen, after all, they couldn’t be expected to have it together all by themselves.

“Okay,” she said. “We each tell someone.”

He nodded, looking more scared now that she’d agreed with him. She understood that entirely.

“Grover,” he said. “I want to tell him.”

“Not your mom?”

He shook his head. “Grover can help me more and anyway...it would put her in a real awkward position with the rest of my family. That’s not fair to her.”

“Alright.”

“What about you?”

“Piper.”

He didn’t look surprised but his features scrunched up.

“What?” she asked.

“She hates me.”

Annabeth smiled. “No.”

“Yes.”

“Alright well I hated you once too.”

“I thought we agreed that you’ve always had a crush on me.”

“No that was the other way around.”

“Oh, my bad.”

She smiled at him and held him tighter. “We’re gonna be okay.”

“Yeah we are. We can trust them.”

She breathed him in, taking in the smell of the ocean. “We can.”

“What time is it?” she asked a moment later.

Percy lifted his wrist to show his watch to the moonlight. “Nearly midnight,” he murmured.

They watched the second hand on his watch tick around to twelve and listened to the cheers in the town below, feeling as though a new beginning was really upon them.

“Happy New Year, Percy.”

“Happy New Year, Annabeth.”


	4. January

_ Now .  _

They agreed to tell Piper and Grover before school started and to tell them at the same time. The latter had been Annabeth’s idea and she’d been enormously relieved when Percy had agreed. She’d kept trying to figure out the words to tell Piper but stumbled everytime and was faced with a hypothetical argument from which their friendship  could not be recovered and which resulted in hers and Percy’s secret revealed to everybody. It was, of course, more dramatic than reality would necessarily be. But that’s how the imagination unfortunately worked sometimes. 

She thought that showing Piper rather than telling her might help get the message across a bit better. She wanted to show her friend that Percy was someone she trusted, someone she cared about more than she ever thought she could care about another person outside of her own family. 

So they planned to tell them both the weekend before school started again and agreed that the Spring would be the best place to meet. It was neutral territory and far enough from town not to create any curious gossip. 

Piper had been more than curious when Annabeth requested to meet there for a walk and Annabeth had fumbled through some excuse about helping one of her seven cousins in the house with homework. Grover seemed to be more easily appeased and Annabeth figured that was probably an indication of how they both would take the news. 

It was three o’clock in the afternoon on a Sunday and the bells of the church which sat on the hillside below the spring started to toll. Annabeth and Percy managed to stay in a hiding place just beyond the crest of the small white pillar which marked the sight of the spring, and they waited. Piper arrived first and looked around herself impatiently before sitting down and pulling her phone out. Annabeth received a text a second later:

**Pipes**

(15.03) here

(15.03) where are u

(15.03) 2 mins

(15.03) okkk

 

“Now for Grover,” she whispered, putting her phone away. 

“He’s always late,” Percy muttered, sounding nervous. “Probably got distracted staring at a tree or something.”

Annabeth pressed her shoulder against his, hoping to comfort. He sent a small smile back in return. 

Sure enough, a minute later, Grover came strolling up the hill, staring so intently at the leaf in his hands that he didn’t see Piper until he was nearly on top of her. She sprung up as soon as she saw him.

“What are you doing here?” she threw at him. 

“I’m meeting...what are  _ you _ doing here?”

Percy nudged Annabeth. “Come on, before they kill each other.”

Annabeth murmured her agreement and stood up to walk alongside him out of their hiding place. She took his hand and gripped it tightly to stop her trembling fingers. She had to fight off every instinct that told her to snatch her hand away from his at the sight of other people. 

Grover spotted them first, his face contorting to an even deeper frown than had already been present and then his eyes widened and his mouth fell open and he stared. Piper’s gaze naturally followed and her face told an even more dramatic story. She was the daughter of an actor, after all. 

“Okay, what the shit is going on?” she asked when Percy and Annabeth had stopped in front of them. 

They glanced at each other and Percy sighed. “We’re um...we’re together.”

Even over the wind on the hilltop, Annabeth heard Grover’s gentle gasp and almost laughed at his scandalised expression as he lifted a hand to his mouth. 

Piper narrowed her eyes as she looked between them. “Okay...very funny. Very fucking weird joke but okay. Can we go now?”

Annabeth cleared her throat. “Um. Not joking, Pipes. Percy’s my boyfriend.”

She couldn’t describe the feeling of saying that out loud if she was asked to. A dizzying mixture of exuberance and fear. Percy’s hand squeezed hers. 

Piper’s face was still an acting class of confusion so she looked at Grover instead. He’d lowered his hand at least. He was staring at Percy with an intense sort of consideration. 

“This is real?” he asked. 

Percy nodded. “It is.”

“For how long?”

“Since the summer.”

_ “What?!” _ Piper chimed in again. “Are you shitting me?”

“Piper, please,” Annabeth pleaded. “Are you believing us now?”

Piper gave her a deeply contemplative look. 

“But you hate him.”

Annabeth felt the corners of her mouth tick upwards. “I did. I haven’t for a while now.”

Piper’s shoulders dropped. 

“Are you gonna tell us why you lied to us for six months?”

Annabeth felt it like a punch to the gut, especially after all of her understanding and kindness last month. “You know why,” she said, unwilling to waver into guilt. “We were scared out of our minds. Still are, actually. If our families find out then we’re fucked.”

Piper clenched her jaw but she nodded slowly. 

Annabeth softened. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you until now, and I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad friend lately, but this is kind of a big deal.”

“So you guys are real serious, huh?” Grover asked. 

Percy answered immediately, “Yeah we are.”

Annabeth felt a warmth in her bones. She couldn’t help the lift of her chin to look over at him nor the tilt of her mouth as she returned his smile. 

“Gross,” Piper muttered. 

Annabeth laughed. “Come on, man. Be happy for me.”

Piper threw her hands in the air but there was a hint of laughter in her tone this time around. “I mean five minutes ago I thought you hated him and now you’re giving him gooey eyes. Give me a chance to catch up.”

“Fair enough.”

“So...are we cool?” Percy asked. 

Piper pointed at him. “I’m not gonna magically like you overnight.”

“That’s fair.”

Piper sighed. “But I’m not gonna tell anybody, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Same here,” Grover said and Annabeth liked him more already. 

Percy and Annabeth let out a breath. She felt more relieved than she thought possible. The look on Piper’s face told her there was more to this discussion to be had, but they’d done the worst part. They’d broken the news, they’d said the words out loud to somebody else and it hadn’t torn them apart. 

She felt just that bit freer in the knowledge that they were no longer alone. 

* * *

 

With Piper and Grover on their side, things became significantly easier very quickly. Grover covered for Percy so they could sneak into an empty classroom at lunch and Piper reminded Annabeth to be mean to Percy when they were in public - though Annabeth wasn’t sure that was too much of a challenge for Piper. 

Piper’s extra talk involved her repeatedly asking Annabeth whether she was out of her mind, whether she was being bribed, blackmailed, or hypnotised. Annabeth pointed out that she surely wouldn’t know if it was the latter and received a whack on the arm for it. 

“I’m serious, Chase. This is so left field, I can’t believe you’re shacking up with the enemy.”

Annabeth sputtered. “We’re not shacking up!”

“Really?” Piper’s eyebrows rose along with her tone. “You’ve been together for, what, six months? And you haven’t done it yet?”

She squirmed. “It hasn’t exactly been easy to get time alone together. And we’re seventeen, calm down.”

Piper shrugged. “Fair enough. I just figured the whole sneaking around thing would ramp up the excitement around that you know? Make you want to do it more.”

“It does. I mean.” God, she hated talking about these things. Maybe because it was such a new thing to talk about. “Yeah it does,” she decided. “But I also just like being with him, you know? Talking and whatever.”

“Yeah thanks you really painted a picture there.”

Annabeth threw a cushion at her. They were at Piper’s house, sprawled on the couch after their first day back at school. Annabeth’s mom had been back home since Christmas so Annabeth was out of her aunt and uncles, but her mom was still keeping a close eye on her so she couldn’t risk talking about this at home. Piper’s mom was locked up in her soundproof office and always made a grand entrance so they could trust that they would get fair warning before they were interrupted. 

Piper hugged the cushion that had been thrown at her and levelled Annabeth with a look. 

“You really do like him, huh?”

Annabeth sighed. “Really really. I can’t explain how it happened.”

“It was when you were working on that project together?”

“Um yeah. How’d you know that?”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Cause I’m not stupid. You two got together over the summer, right after you were paired for that project.”

“Okay fine,” Annabeth conceded. 

“Plus, you were getting soft on him. Studying together when you didn’t need to.”

“You noticed that, huh?”

“Mhm. But then you were back to hating him once the project was over and after that big fall out in the town square I figured things were back to business as usual.” She raised her eyebrows. “I’m guessing now that was a stunt.”

Annabeth lowered her eyes. “Um. Yeah. We were just friends then. But we knew people were getting suspicious.”

“Mhm. So,” Piper hedged with a small smile. “What made you stop hating him?”

She bit her lip, unsure how to answer that question. She stopped hating him when she realised the reasons for hating him weren’t her own. She stopped hating him when they both quit yelling at each other long enough to talk. She stopped hating him the day he made her laugh so hard her belly hurt. 

“I guess when we stopped seeing each other as an Onassis and a Kapetanidis and as just each other. Annabeth and Percy. When we were working on the project, we had to focus on that, so we pushed the other stuff aside and when we did that, I guess it gave us a chance to talk.”

Piper was smiling just a bit. “So what’s he like? All I know is the kid who put gum in your hair.”

Annabeth snorted. “He’s…kind and really funny. And he’s the goofiest person I know but sometimes I look at him and I think he’s really cool. He’s also really hard on himself and kinda has high standards for the adults in his life - I think because his mom has always been, like, an idol to him. He kinda reminds me of you in how emotionally mature he is sometimes; he’s so patient.”

“Wow.”

Annabeth looked up at Piper who wore an unreadable expression. 

“What?”

“Do you love him?”

Annabeth blinked at the abruptness of the question. 

Did she love him? Possibly. She wasn’t sure. That probably meant no, but…

“I could,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that’s where I’m falling.”

Piper nodded, which surprised Annabeth. 

“I should know that shouldn’t I?” she asked. 

Piper shrugged. “I mean people take different amounts of time to fall in love. Some people do it in days or weeks. Some people take months, or longer. Sometimes it’s not about the time spent together but the experiences you go through.”

“You think so?”

“Mhm, totally. I mean look at the basis you guys have been given. You could have gone full Romeo and Juliet and fallen in love in hours and rushed everything and it could have all gone to shit.”

“I think there were a few more factors involved.”

“Sure, but my point is that they were blinded by their affection for each other, for the impossibility of it. So much that it made their situation feel even more hopeless and contributed to the decisions they made, which ultimately led to their downfall.”

“Alright this isn’t an English class.”

Piper laughed. “Sorry. You get my point though, right?”

“About Romeo and Juliet, sure. How it relates to me and Percy? Not so much.”

“Yeah I got distracted. They fell in love basically at first sight and everything after happened in a rush. But you two have been able to fall for each other more gradually.”

“I guess.”

“And you’ve had a lot of shit going on which has had to be distracting.”

Annabeth nodded, sighing a little. 

“And you’re seventeen years old in your first relationship. You’re not supposed to have this all figured out.”

Annabeth gave her a look. “You seem to have it all figured out.”

Piper flipped her hair. “Well that’s because I’m me.”

They both laughed. 

“No, you know it’s because my mom has been talking to me about this stuff since I was four. Some of it was bound to stick.”

Annabeth smiled at her. “I’m really glad I told you.”

“I’m really glad you told me too.” And her smile was genuine. 

“I should have sooner I just...we didn’t know what it was at first and we didn’t want to put that pressure on. And then we worried about what position it would put you both in and I think I felt like I had to handle it on my own.”

Piper nodded. “That sounds like you.”

Annabeth smiled a half smile. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, we’ve done that part already.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” Piper grinned. “Get over here.”

Annabeth laughed as she reached across to hug her best friend. She finally felt settled for the first time in months. She needed this, really and truly. 

She couldn’t help wondering that if Romeo and Juliet had had their friends on their side from the beginning, they might have made it too.

* * *

 

They were at the beach today. The lingering chill of winter kept the locals and straggling tourists at bay and left the rocky cove just to them. 

It had been almost three weeks since they told Piper and Grover and they were utilising their comraderies as alibis this evening. They were both supposed to be studying late in the library at school, when in fact Piper had a paper due and Grover’s save the planet club were meeting up. It felt nice, to know that they already had answers to questions about their whereabouts, and to know that they had people covering their backs.

“Do you ever think about if our families weren’t enemies?” Percy asked her, bumping his shoulder against hers as they leaned back on their elbows. 

Annabeth frowned. Truthfully, she hadn’t considered it before. “I haven’t,” she told him honestly. “Have you?”

Percy nodded. “Yeah, a few times.”

Annabeth pulled the edge of her hood back to get a better look at him. “Really? Like when?”

“Like, when you really pissed me off a couple of times, or when you did the opposite.”

Annabeth sat up. “Okay, that’s a lot to unpack. Tell me about the first one.”

Percy laughed. “Gods, you know. Like when you managed to convince me that assignment was due a week before it actually was and I drank four energy drinks to stay up and finish it.”

Annabeth snorted. “I remember that. That was a good one.”

“I nearly had a heart attack.”

“Don’t be dramatic. You’re fine.”

He rolled his eyes. “Anyways so I couldn’t help wishing we weren’t enemies because you were always such a genius about your pranks on me.”

Annabeth grinned. “I don’t know if you can call the dish soap one genius.”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t your most refined one.”

“Tell me about the second reason.”

Percy squirmed. “Jeez, do I have to?”

“Yes.”

He sighed. “Fine. I maybe had a crush on you when I was younger...and then intermittently throughout middle and high school.”

“Oh my god.”

“Shut up.”

“I will not.” She leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I was expecting one complement and I got two. You’re so cute.”

He turned his face towards her, asking to be kissed. “Yes I am.”

She kissed his lips, smiling into it. 

When she pulled away, she tugged in his shoulders to get him to lay with his head in her lap. He obliged, smiling as he went. Percy was a glutton for physical affection and always went pliant as soon as she started carding her fingers through his hair. 

“What do you think we would have been like,” she asked him when he’d shuffled around to get comfortable. 

He looked up at her. “If we weren’t enemies?”

“Mhm.”

“I think we could have been best friends.”

She brushed his hair off his forehead and smiled. “Yeah?”

“Totally. You would have bossed me around in kindergarten and I would have done whatever you said.”

Annabeth laughed. “You? Following orders?”

He shrugged, a feat in his position. “If they were from you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sap.”

“Yes. You don’t think we would have been?”

“No I do. I think if I’d been given a fair chance then I would have made my own mind up about you a long time ago.”

“And what would that have been?”

“Fishing for compliments?” She pinched his nose gently. 

“Always.”

Her smile softened. “That you’re kind. And you let me be me, with no judgment.”

“You think so?”

“Mhm. It’s what you do now.”

Percy smiled up at her, all soft, and she smiled back before looking away at the lapping waves instead. She was still working on the verbal affection thing. 

“Hey do you remember when we were ten and you nailed me in the face with a soccer ball.”

Annabeth looked down at him, eyes wide. “Oh my god. We weren’t ten, were we?”

“Uh huh. It was at recess. I remember cause you waited for Miss Galanos to go back inside and aimed it right at me.”

Annabeth bit her lip to hold her laughter in. “I’m very sorry.”

“You’re not,” he said. He tilted his chin up and to the side. “I still have a scar.”

“You do not.”

“Look!”

Annabeth leaned in to look at the spot on his jaw that Percy was now pointing to. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said. 

“My face just got in the way?”

“Exactly.”

They both laughed and Annabeth gently moved his hand away so she could lean down and press a kiss to the tiny scar on his jaw. Then she kissed his smiling mouth, ignoring the ache in her back and neck as he linked his fingers with hers to hold her there. 

He let out a contented sigh when she lifted her head again. Annabeth smiled and squeezed his hand. 

“Happy?” she asked him. 

“Oh yeah. This is so much better.”

Her brows knit. “What is?”

“This, now. Knowing we have people to cover our backs.”

“Oh yeah. You’re right, it is.”

Percy stretched his spine and groaned. “I feel like we can just chill. Finally.”

“Clearly.” She snorted. 

“Although, Piper still hates me.”

“She does not.”

“Hm.”

Annabeth sighed. “Okay she’s working on it. She’s not the one you’re dating anyway.”

She heard him mutter something like, “Thank the gods,” under his breath and tapped the back of his head in reprimand. He grinned at her but his expression softened after a moment. 

“I still need her on my side though.”

Annabeth brushed her fingers through his hair where she’d just slapped him. “She’s on my side. Which means she’s on your side too.”

Percy looked up at her and a moment of quiet understanding passed between them. “Okay.” 

She smiled. “Okay.”

* * *

 

_Before._

Percy always hated the 15th of January. The anniversary of his dad’s death was never going to be his favourite day, but the part he hated about it most was how much of an immigrant he felt to all of this collective mourning. His family always put him centre stage when he felt like he belonged in the audience. 

The day of mourning began at day break and involved the whole family - second and third cousins and all - visiting the dock he was last sighted at before he sailed his boat out to sea and never returned. Then they went to the plot where no body was buried but a square stone sat on the earth marking his name along with the words: Beloved son, brother, and friend. 

Their family hadn’t known Percy’s mom was about to return to the island carrying a son in her belly, so neither of them could be acknowledged on the now worn stone. He wondered sometimes, why the word father had never been added later on. 

On their way from the cemetery to yaya Ceecee’s house where an array of food would be served, Percy hung back with his mom. She was by herself near the back of the group, and this was something else he didn’t like about this day; how he was made to sit at the centre while his mom orbited like an outer planet, not quite included in the centre of mourning. He didn’t know whose decision that had been, but he didn’t like it.

“You okay?” he asked her.

She looked at him and smiled, taking his hand. “I am, sweetheart. Are you?”

He shrugged, feeling awkward. “Yeah.”

“What is it?” she asked, eyeing him carefully.

He glanced ahead where the rest of their family paraded their grief and hung back a little more. “I just, it feels weird.”

“What do you mean?” her voice was quiet like his and not judgemental, which he was grateful for.

He sighed. “I didn’t know him. I feel like they forget that.”

His mom squeezed his hand. “You’re allowed to grieve in your own way, Perce. They tell you stories about him because they want you to know what an amazing man he was.”

He nodded. “I just feel like you should be more at the centre than me. You knew him. You lost him more than I did.”

She looked away from him, mulling over some internal battle and he felt a wave of guilt rush through his belly.

But then she sighed. “I loved your dad. But it was them he was taken from.” She smiled at his frowning face. “It’s not a competition, Percy. I keep to the outside by my own choice.”

“But you shouldn’t. You’re part of this family as much as anyone else is. If I’m in there then so should you be.”

She looked a little surprised. “Maybe you’re right,” she said after a moment.

“I am,” he said confidently, his earlier anxiety fading.

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand again. “You are,” she told him.

Next to her, watching the rest of his family, Percy finally felt a bit more settled. Because despite the enormous and wonderful size of their family, it had always come down to the two of them, against the world.

* * *

 

_ Now. _

In mid January, the days were still cool enough to warrant a sweater and jeans. Annabeth was grateful for the jacket she grabbed on her way out as she climbed the familiar path up the hill towards the spring. The wind tugged at her hair and the tassels of her hoodie as she sat down with her back to the stone and looked down at the small church below. 

From here, the crowd in the cemetery were clearly visible. A smattering of figures in black dresses and suits, gathered as though the person remembered had died only a week ago, when in fact it had been eighteen years since Po  Kapetanidis had died. 

If she looked carefully, Annabeth could make out Percy’s figure, standing taller than most around him, wearing a suit which was now probably too small for him. She longed to be there with him, holding his hand and offering some small sense of comfort. Though she wondered if she would even be invited if she wasn’t an Onassis. This was a family affair and she imagined that they wanted to keep it that way. 

So instead she folded in on herself and watched as the party left the cemetery and one person remained. Tall in his too small suit, Percy stood in front of the small stone plaque that marked his father’s grave with his hands stuffed into his pockets. 

Then he turned, looking up in Annabeth’s direction and she hadn’t told him she would be here, but he seemed to know anyway. She’d sent him a heart in her text to him an hour ago and he’d replied with the same. She watched now as he raised one hand in front of his eyes to block the sun, standing so far away and yet tethered somehow. 

And they stayed there with the world between them, feeling as though they were standing only inches away from one another.

Eventually, he lowered his hand and turned away to follow the rest of his family towards his yaya’s house. Annabeth waited until the sky turned from grey to black and the wind became too cold to bear. Then she walked back down the hilltop towards home - her mother’s - and waited for Percy to call. 

* * *

 

_ Before. _

After a couple of hours at Ceecee’s, Percy was in need of a break. He found his mom and his yaya and kissed them both on the cheek as he excused himself for some air. They both let him go with a pat to his cheek and no questions asked, which he was surprised and grateful for. 

He left the house without a direction in mind but ended up at the Spring. He hadn’t been there for years, despite the significance it held with his family’s history. He’d always felt more settled at the beach, but for some reason today, his feet carried him here. 

Percy loosened his tie as he sat down with his back to the stone and frowned at the ocean spread before him. His talk with his mom earlier had helped some of his unease, but he couldn’t completely calm the thrumming anxiety in his chest. He felt adrift from the grief that surrounded him, unable to grasp onto anything solid. 

He stared out at the water and wondered who the man was that sailed out on unsafe seas and didn’t return to his family. He wondered what kind of father he might have been. His family told him plenty of stories, but they told in the way you tell a story of a loved one to somebody who also loved them. Percy never knew his father to miss him, so the stories feel as if they are about a stranger. 

As he sat there mulling this over, a sudden sadness swept through him as he mourned his own loss. He mourned the fact that his father was somebody he never got a chance to know. His family spoke about a stranger and it made him angry that they couldn’t understand why he couldn’t resonate with their words. 

He was such a caring man, they told him.  _ Then why did he leave his family? _ He was so warm and loving.  _ Then why isn’t he here to love me? _ He was such a strong man.  _ Then why didn’t he survive? Why didn’t he live long enough for me to know him? Then I would be able to mourn a person instead of a story.  _

By the time he was interrupted in his wallowing, tears were streaming freely down his face. 

“Oh,” the voice said, prompting his chin to lift and a hand automatically to wipe at the tears on his cheeks. 

And standing there with an expression he had never seen on her before, was possibly the worst person in the world to interrupt him in his moment of self pity. Annabeth Chase stood with a bag hanging from her shoulder and her hair pulled back into two French braids. Her mouth made a little circle as her eyes darted over him, clearly shocked and uneasy. He was used to seeing her so sure of herself, having already arranged her expression into something displeased and scornful. 

“Sorry,” she said, unexpectedly, looking like she hadn’t expected it to come out of her mouth either. Then she sharpened, her back straightening and frown hardening her expression. “I mean, what are you doing here?”

Percy sighed, too tired to fight back as he usually would.

“Please don’t be a dick to me right now,” he said. “Not today.”

Her furrowed brow edged into confusion and her voice was skeptical when she asked, “Is this some sort of trick?”

He shot her a tired glare, barely able to summon the energy. 

“Not everything is about you and this stupid feud okay.” 

“Okay, geez. Sorry to have interrupted,” she said defensively. 

Below them, very faintly, music began to troll out of one of the houses in the town. Percy knew exactly which one. 

He stood, wiping the grass off his pants and avoiding Annabeth’s gaze. 

“I have to go, so you can stay if you want.” 

He glanced at her face as he walked past. She was still stuck to the spot but she looked like a breath caught in realisation. She’d put it together. She didn’t say anything though, as he brushed past her, and he wasn’t sure what motivated that silence. Perhaps simple awkwardness. But perhaps some respect, somewhere deep within her crawling out to prevent a cruelty which was too much for two fourteen year olds to exchange. 

Just as he was about to walk out of hearing range, he turned, hands in his pockets, to call over his shoulder. 

“Could you please not…”

Annabeth smiled, just the small quirk of her lips that didn’t reach her eyes and let him know they were still on unfriendly terms. 

“Don’t worry, Jackson. Meeting at the spring will be our secret.”

He nodded, unsure what else to do, and held her gaze for another moment before turning and walking back down the hilltop. And he couldn’t help thinking, despite every goddamn thing, about how cute she looked with those braids, her princess curls escaping in wisps around her pretty face. 

Mortal enemy or not, she was beautiful without even trying. 

* * *

 

_ Now. _

As it usually did, the dinner at Ceecee’s went on until past midnight. Percy stayed to help wash up before walking home with his mom, her arm linked through his. She flicked the light on as they walked into the house and turned to him with a tired smile. 

“You okay?” he asked her. 

She touched his cheek. “I am. Are you?”

He nodded, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I think I’m gonna go for a walk.”

“It’s late.”

“I know, I just. Need some air.” Needed to see his girlfriend who he hadn’t seen all day. “I won’t be long.”

She frowned but nodded in the end. “Alright, sweetheart. Take a sweater. I’m going to bed.”

He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Night, mom. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

He did grab his hoodie before leaving the house again, abandoning his jacket with the too short sleeves on the arm of the chair in the living room. As he shut the door quietly behind him, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to text Annabeth. She told him she would wait to hear from him later, but he didn’t expect her to wait up. 

He hoped she did. 

 

**A**

(2.46) you still awake?

(2.46) I’m going down to the harbour for a walk if ur still up ❤️

(2.57) I’ll be there in 10

(2.57) ❤️

 

The harbour was still and calm around Percy. It felt like a warm blanket thrown over his shoulders. His day had been a warm hearty fire, throwing off sparks and random heat. Enjoyable but unsettling, after a while. He thrived off people, but he seemed to appreciate quiet far more than the rest of his family, excluding his mom. He wondered if that’s why she didn’t stay originally, then he felt a bit bad for wondering that. 

He sat at the end of the boardwalk with his legs hanging off the end but when he heard footsteps behind him, he turned and stood up. Annabeth walked towards him quickly, her sandals slapping against the wood. Then she was in front of him, with her grey eyes looking up at him, closer than she had been all day and yet still not close enough. 

She pulled him into her arms and it still wasn’t close enough, somehow. He sunk against her, letting her gather him in and tether him, curling her fingers into his hair and around his shoulders as he pressed his furrowed brow against her neck. That blanket became a duvet, heavier and comforting. They swayed for a moment, not caring that they were out in the open because it was three o’clock in the morning and they felt like the only people on the island. He just felt whole again, after feeling so disconcerted all day. 

More than anything, he had just missed her. 

When they drew apart, they ended up sitting side by side on the end of the boardwalk, feet hanging together with Annabeth’s leg hooked over his. It felt nice. He was strangely thrown to the notion of being with her in public, at a party or just at her house, sharing a seat because they could, hanging over each other because they could. It made him feel possessed, comforted, wanted. After a day of feeling strangely absent from everyone around him, it was nice to feel so grounded. 

“I saw you at the church today,” Annabeth told him as he played with her fingers. 

He smiled. “I saw you too.”

“I kept wishing I could be there with you. For you, today.”

“Me too. But it’s okay. I think that will always be a family thing.”

She bumped her shoulder with his. “No outsiders allowed?”

He huffed a laugh. “Yeah it’s pretty exclusive I’m afraid.”

“Jeez what a bummer.”

“It really does suck for you because my theia’s baklava is something else.”

“You didn’t sneak any out for me?” Annabeth asked and when he shook his head she propped her chin on his shoulder. “You don’t even bring me food. Why do I date you?”

“I think you said something about me being cute?”

“No that must have been somebody else.”

“Yeah? You didn’t say how cute and sweet and nice I am. And also handsome and strong.

She grinned at him, her face still close. “Nope. No recollection. I do remember saying I wish I had a boyfriend who brought me food.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. Top of my list.”

“What comes after? Maybe I can tick that.”

“Mm. He has to invite me to all family events.”

Percy laughed, letting it echo off the high walls of the harbour, and shoved her around a bit as she laughed too. He grabbed her arms and pulled her against him until their grinning mouths lined up and he didn’t think he would get to feel like this today. 

“I love you,” he told her, with his forehead pressed against hers. 

He’d not said it to her before. He’d felt it for sometime now, been sure of it since New Years, had been waiting for the right time to say it since then. 

Annabeth blinked at him. In all honesty, he didn’t expect her to say it back straight away, even if she felt the same way. Annabeth and her emotions were starting their reconciliation with one another, but she was a way off being completely comfortable with them.

So when the corner of her mouth ticked up and she told him, “I love you, too.” Percy’s heart went into double time.

Her face was wide open. Vulnerable, trusting, loving. He held it between his palms and kissed her, feeling so so full in that moment. 

“I love you,” she said again, between kisses. “I love you. I love you.”

Percy laughed. “Even though I don’t tick any of your boxes?”

She grinned, squeezing his waist. “You tick them all.”

He could feel the mirth shining out of his face. “I love you.”

“I heard.”

“You said it more than me.”

“Are we keeping count?”

“May as well.”

“Then I’m counting that time you said it when we fought before Christmas.”

He leaned back to look at her. “You noticed that huh?”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “Not something you miss, Percy.”

He smiled and bumped his nose against hers. “Then we’re even.”

“Mhm. We are.”

She kissed him one more time before hugging his arm and resting her head on his shoulder. They watched the quiet roll of the ocean under the moonlight, bobbing the boats tethered around them and the distant buoys. 

He didn’t know whether it should feel strange - or disrespectful - to have told the daughter of his father's enemy that he loves her on the last spot he was seen alive. It didn’t feel that way to him, it felt like a strange sort of truce. 

“You okay?” Annabeth asked after a little while. It was getting colder and later but neither of them suggested going home just yet. 

He nodded. “Mm. Just thinking about my dad.”

She kissed his shoulder through his hoodie and he smiled a little bit. 

“I just,” he sighed. “You remember that day you saw me up at the Spring?”

“Yeah.”

“I was crying.”

“I remember,” she said softly. 

“I was upset because I got thinking about how unfair that everyone knew him and I didn’t. And how everyone always had great things to say about him and expected me to be able to agree. It’s like they forget, sometimes, that I don’t intrinsically know him because I’m his son.”

Annabeth squeezed his hand. She stayed quiet so he kept talking, letting the words spill out. 

“I know that’s not fair though. And I don’t ever wanna tell my mom that because I know she feels so guilty that she didn’t come back here as soon as she found out she was pregnant with me.”

“Percy,” she started softly, but didn’t continue.

“It’s okay. I’m not asking for an answer to this.”

“I know, I just. You can feel angry about that, and sad, and guilty, and whatever you want. You’re right, I don’t think it’s fair to say that to your mom, but you’re allowed to feel it still, you know that right?”

He sighed, feeling something loosen in his chest. “I guess.”

She leaned into him. “Grief is weird. Don’t feel bad about how it makes you feel.”

He squeezed her hands, wrapped around his. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

“I think. I think maybe he would have liked you.”

Annabeth lifted her head to frown at him. “Percy, he hated my mom.”

He shrugged. “Yeah but, I don’t know. From what my family tell me about him, I feel like he could have rooted for us.”

“You think so?”

“Mm. And you’re not your mom.”

She smiled. “No?”

“No. She’s a lot scarier.”

Annabeth laughed. 

“I mean, you got her cool traits. But you’re, like, your own person.”

“Well articulated.”

“Fuck off.”

She grinned at him. “Well, I think I would have liked your dad.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm. If he was anything like you, then I don’t see how I could not.”

He smiled. “You’re cute.”

She lifted her chin. “I am, huh?”

He kissed her. “You are.”

They sat there for a few more hours, talking and not talking, until the sun rose over the water and they heard the town begin to wake up behind them.

Then they stood with their hands still interlinked and walked as far as they could together. And when Percy shucked his clothes down to his boxers and climbed into his bed for a couple of hours sleep, he felt warm all the way through. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're back!!! happy 2019 i hope you're all feeling positive and ready to make this year your bitch <3 thank u all for your love and support for this story, even with the long break lol, it's highly appreciated <3
> 
> a couple of things. i effed up the povs so just let it happen and don't think about it. it's fine, we're good, the story still works and the earth still spins. i went through a moment with it but i got past it so we all can.  
> also, this chapter talks a lot about grief which is a super complicated and awful thing. any of you going thru it, be kind to yourself and talk to people. one person's experience is not universal but people will always be able to relate in some way, so don't shut yourself off or think you're alone, cause you ain't. and time heals, people don't just say that for funs, it's the truth. if you're not okay now you will be.
> 
> ANYWAY, we're so happy to be back in this AU and i can't wait to share the rest of this great story with you all. soph and i just watched the inspiration for this story, Pizza My Heart, together and man it was an experience so go watch it you crazy kids!


	5. February

_Now._

Annabeth loved Percy. She loved the annoying way he bounced his knee and the way he tasted like coffee in the mornings and the mess of his school shirt hanging untucked from his pants. She loved his hands and the way they held hers. She loved the messy quiff of his hair. She loved his belly laugh and the scrunch of his nose when she did something he thought was cute. She loved how honest his heart was. She loved how unafraid he was to display affection. She loved him, inside out.

But by the gods, he made some stupid decisions sometimes.

It had started, she supposed, a week ago, when one of her younger cousins, Kara, who had started high school this September gone made a comment about she and Percy.

“I expected more arguing,” she’d said with her belly on the carpet and her feet flicking back and forth in the air. Annabeth had looked up from her homework and frowned.

“What?”

“Well, everyone talked about it. ‘Wait until you get to high school’ they said, ‘there’s drama all the time’.”

“You mean with me and Percy?” Annabeth had asked, stalling.

“Mhm.”

“Well…it’s my final year. I guess we’re both too busy for that stuff.”

“But you don’t even fight with him.”

“I do.” Which wasn’t a lie.

“Hm,” she’d hummed, annoyingly.

Annabeth reached out to kick her. “Don’t hm. Why is this such a big deal? Shouldn’t you be focussing on your classes and not school gossip?”

She had turned to look at Annabeth with her eyes already rolling. “I can do both, Annabeth. I’m very good at multitasking.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Chill, Kara. And don’t worry about me and Percy Jackson. We’re still enemies.”

Her cousin appraised her for a moment, squinting intensely. “Okay,” she’d said after a moment and Annabeth had to hold in her breath of relief.

As soon as her cousin was focused on her homework again, Annabeth pulled out her phone to text Percy.

**P**

(19.34) we need a public argument. ASAP

(19.36) someone onto us?

(19.36) my cousin, Kara, thinks we don’t argue enough

(19.36) the freshman? They all think that

(19.37) even before we were together. Our reputation precedes us

(19.37) well we actually have something to hide now so can we please just have a fight tomorrow

(19.38) sigh. Sure

(19.38) stop sighing at me

(19.38) siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggghh

(19.38) .

(19.38) I’m very ready to argue w u tomorrow

(19.39) lol ☹

(19.39) sorry I love u

(19.39) I love you too but youre annoying

(19.40) yes that’s well established

(19.40) wyd

(19.40) studying w my cousin

(19.40) so I need to stop texting you before she gets suspicious

(19.41) ?

(19.41) why. You could be texting anyone

(19.41) :o ARE YOU BLUSHING BECAUSE ITS ME

(19.41) shut up no I hate you

(19.42) no you love me you just said

(19.42) I take it back

(19.42) lies. You love me

(19.42) ALRIGHT im smiling at my phone and this is too much so ive Got To Go

(19.43) 😊😊😊😊

(19.43) <3

(19.44) <3

 

The fight had been easy enough. They’d done it before and it was kind of fun to get all theatrical about it. Piper and Grover joined in and Annabeth had to stop herself from laughing when Grover threw some insults at her. She hadn’t been able to spend a great deal of time with him, but from what she had seen and from what Percy told her, she knew him to be nothing but kind and good natured. Calling her a spoiled brat with bad hair didn’t really match up with that and his face contorted when he said it, looking as though he felt incredibly uncomfortable saying the words.

Afterwards, Piper had bumped her shoulder with a laugh and Annabeth had rolled her eyes as they walked towards trig together. Percy had sent her a thumbs up emoji followed by a lot of hearts and she’d replied with her own hearts with her phone under the table until Piper had elbowed her and class had started.

So the fight had been fine, fun even, it was what had followed that Annabeth was taking issue with.

She’d been at her locker, later that same day, fumbling with the books she needed to swap and surreptitiously stealing glances at Percy as he struggled with his own locker a few meters down the hall. Her struggle hadn’t been helped by the paper heart decorations strung up everywhere, looping awkwardly into her locker. Valentine’s day was next week and the posters about flowergrams had been put up a week ago, encouraging Annabeth and her classmates to buy a flower for their crush. Annabeth had never liked the tradition, despite Piper’s committed involvement with them every year, and she disliked it even more this year. This year she actually had someone to celebrate Valentine’s day with and she would have to ignore him at school. She certainly wouldn’t be getting a flower given to her in the hall before class.

Needless to say she was already in a bad mood.

But then Rhea Kafatos had leaned against the locker next to Percy’s with her back to Annabeth. And, objectively speaking, she was probably a nice person. She was decidedly on the Kapetanidis side of things so there was no reason Annabeth would get to know her, never mind find out what her nice qualities were, if any. But in that moment, Annabeth decided she really didn’t like her at all.

“Hi Percy,” she said sweetly. Annabeth’s jaw clenched.

“Oh, erm. Hi.”

 _Stop being cute,_ Annabeth wanted to say. She was done with her locker but she remained where she was, hand on the metal door as she stared at the spine of her history book.

“How are you?” Rhea asked.

“I’m, er, good. How are you?”

“Great. I was at your yaya’s restaurant last night but you weren’t there.”

“Um, no. I was at home. Studying.”

“Right.”

Annabeth dared a glance and nearly swore when she saw Rhea reach out to touch Percy’s arm.

_Get off him!_

She gripped the metal door and reached into her locker again to make a noise and distract herself and try not to look like she was just standing there to eavesdrop.

“Um, well I was wondering,” Rhea started, sounding nervous and _oh no_.

Oh please no. This was going to be awful. She was going to ask Percy out and he was going to fumble through some terrible excuse and Annabeth wanted to drag herself away from the situation because she could feel her cheeks heating up with the second-hand embarrassment already.

“I was wondering” she continued. “If you wanted to, like, get dinner on Friday? And maybe go for a walk on the beach?”

Shit.

“Oh,” the surprise in Percy’s voice could be heard from space. Had he really not seen that coming? “I um. Well. This Friday?”

“Mhm.”

“Um. Well, I think that. Um, sure?”

_Wait. What?_

Had she heard that correctly?

“Great! Okay well I’ll text you? My mom has your mom’s number, so.”

“Cool.”

Annabeth slammed her locker shut and they both looked at her, along with the rest of the students occupying the hall. She forced herself to unclench her jaw as she stared at Percy, whose expression was growing more deer in headlights by the second.

“Dinner and a walk on the beach? How cute,” she said in a sickly sweet voice. Then she looked at Rhea who had her eyebrows delicately raised.

“Don’t expect him to be able to pay for dinner.”

Then she turned on her heel and marched down the hall.

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe he said yes. I’m just. I can’t. What the fuck?”

Annabeth was pacing Piper’s bedroom floor and whisper shouting her frustrations at Piper. She was whisper shouting because Piper’s kitchen was full of people baking and they hadn’t retreated to Annabeth’s because it was also full of people.

Piper was sitting crossed legged on the end of her bed with a contemplative expression as she watched Annabeth pace.

“He’s an idiot.”

And well, yes he was. But Annabeth felt suddenly defensive when Piper said it.

“Hey,” she said with a frown.

Piper rolled her eyes. “Dude, c’mon.”

“Alright yes. He’s an idiot. Top tier.”

“What did he say to you about it?”

Annabeth shrugged. “I’m ignoring his texts.”

“Have you read them?”

“No.”

Piper held out her hand. “Gimme.”

Annabeth scoffed. “No way.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. If you won’t read them then I should. I’ll help you figure out a good reply.”

When Annabeth still hesitated Poper raised her eyebrows. “Wasn’t this the reason you told me about you guys? So I can help you with this crap?”

“Ugh fine.” She unlocked her phone and thrust it at Piper before flopping down next to her.

Piper was silent for a bit before she laughed.

“You guys send so many hearts, you’re ridiculous.”

Annabeth sat up and grabbed for her phone.

“Hey!”

Piper let her grab it back. “Chill. I only scrolled up a bit. And he’s just apologising, by the way. He called himself an idiot too, which is correct, and he said he’s already told Rhea he can’t go out with her.”

“Hm.”

She looked at the texts herself now that Piper had summed them up for her. Percy had sent seven texts and the last one had been a heart. Briefly scrolling back up through their chat, Annabeth could see that Piper was right about the hearts. They did send a lot to each other.

She sighed and tapped on her text bar to reply.

“What are you gonna say?” Piper asked.

Annabeth didn’t reply but she let Piper look over her shoulder as she tapped out her reply. Piper scoffed.

“Gross.”

Annabeth frowned at her. “How?”

Piper shrugged and flopped back on the bed. “Just is. Couples are gross.”

“Who’s a couple?”

The voice from the doorway startled them both and they looked up to see Piper’s five year old cousin standing there with a hand on her hip. She made a perfect mini-me of her mother.

“Nobody, Agnes,” Piper sighed.

“But you said couples are gross.”

Annabeth exchanged a look with Piper.

“Just some people at school, Aggy,” Annabeth said. “When they kiss in the hallway and stuff. Isn’t that so gross?”

Agnes put a finger to her chin in thought. “Hmm. No I think it’s nice.”

“Of course you do,” Annabeth muttered.

“Well I think it’s gross,” Piper said, standing up from the bed. She rushed over to Agnes and grabbed her face in her hands, kissing her cheeks sloppily. “Like this. Isn’t this gross!”

Agnes giggled and shoved her away. “You’re silly! I’m leaving now!”

Then she ran away, still giggling and scrubbing at her cheeks. Annabeth watched Piper walk back to the bed with raised eyebrows.

“Cute,” she said.

“Yeah. She is.” Piper flopped back onto the bed again.

“Recon she’ll tell anybody?”

“Huh? Oh nah. And if she does we’ll say the same thing.”

Annabeth lay down next to her, resting her phone on her belly and letting out a deep sigh.

“Boys are dumb.”

Piper held up a hand, pointing her finger. “Yes. They are.”

Annabeth rolled onto her side and tucked her arm under her head. “Why’d I get so jealous though? Like I know he wouldn’t do that if everyone knew about us. No one would ask him if everyone knew.”

“Hm. I wouldn’t put it past Rhea.”

“You know her?”

“Don’t need to.”

“Piper.”

Piper looked at her and shrugged defensively at Annabeth’s raised eyebrows. “What? She’s just that type of girl.”

Annabeth laughed. “You’re a hypocrite.”

“Whatever.”

“Don’t be an asshole. She can ask boys out if she wants to and she shouldn’t be judged for that.”

“Even if it’s your boyfriend?”

“She didn’t know that.” Annabeth kicked her. “Girls get enough hate. We don’t need to hate each other too.”

Piper sniffed. “Fine.”

She kicked her again and shoved her too, laughing as Piper squawked indignantly. Then she was shoving Piper off the bed while Piper latched onto her to prevent herself from falling.

“You’re an asshole,” Piper grunted.

“Love you too.”

* * *

 

Annabeth was pissed. Understandably so.

Percy really couldn’t explain why he said yes to Rhea, it just came out of his mouth before he could stop the words. He wasn’t even sure if he’d go out with her if he was single. But there were a lot of people around and nobody had been that up front with him before, so he just panicked. Man he was an idiot.

Annabeth had sort of accepted his apologies over text but he knew he’d have to grovel for a while longer. He hoped she wasn’t taking this to heart, but it was difficult to tell over text. The looks she’d given him in the hallway since were full of disdain, and he got the feeling she wasn’t having to reach too far to pull that expression over her face. They hadn’t managed to find any time together this week due to their families demanding their attention and man hours when they weren’t at school.

By Tuesday morning he was desperate. Desperate to see her, properly and without anybody else around, desperate to make sure she knew she was absolutely the only person he was interested in being with. Desperate to see her smile and let her make fun of him and to hold her hips and kiss her. Just desperate.

He hadn’t planned to go to Piper for help, it just sort of happened. And, really, he didn’t expect her to be of much help. She wasn’t his biggest fan after all.

“What do you want, Jackson?” she asked sharply, voice loud enough to elicit reactions from the students milling  around them.

Percy ignored the eager looks on their faces and shifted his bag in his shoulder. Piper was sitting at a booth, which was really a table with some pink cloth over it and a banner above her head reading: $1 a rose for your Valentine in cursive script.

As mentioned, desperate.

“I’d like to buy a rose,” he said, keeping his voice low.

Piper gave him a long look before withdrawing a single rose from the pot next to her along with a slip of paper for Percy to write a note.

“One dollar, please.”

Percy handed over the bill he had ready in his pocket and bent down to write the note then and there. He’d had it ready in his head for days now anyway. When he was done, he folded it up and used the small bit of elastic to attach it to the rose stem.

“You’ll make sure it gets to her?”

Piper raised her eyebrows. “I’ll deliver it personally,” she replied, having the good grace to keep her voice low this time. She gave him a once over. “Maybe you’re not so bad.”

Percy felt the surprise on his face. “Wow. Is this a prank? What’s going on.”

Piper glanced around them. People had lost interest when their interaction hadn’t resulted in a bitch fight.

“Of course it is.” Piper shrugged, leaning back in her seat and letting her voice gain volume again. “You’re giving me a headache, Jackson. Bye.”

Percy rolled his eyes, trying to keep his smile tucked down as he threw her a salute with his middle finger.

“A pleasure as always, McLean.”

* * *

 

_ Before. _

Annabeth has always disliked the last few weeks of school. Finals were in a week and projects were due and she had spent the last three weeks holed up in a library, with mostly Percy Jackson as company.

Surprisingly though, he hadn’t turned out to be the worst thing about this whole ordeal. Their first study session had been anticlimactic. She remembered the small crowd of other students in the library, waiting for an explosion that never came. They were short and efficient about what the focus of their project would be on and who would do what task. Annabeth had expected to argue for hours with him about things like that but they just seemed to be on the same page about everything.

It was...disturbing. And a very new sensation. When Piper has asked her later how it went, Annabeth had shrugged.

“Fine,” she’d told her and rolled her eyes at Piper’s appalled expression.

It really was fine though. They both took their grades seriously and wanted to do well in Mr Brunner’s class, so had a shared understanding that this was not to be fucked up. All bets were off and pranks were officially banned during these three weeks. It had relaxed things between them a bit. She didn’t feel as on edge as she had expected to.

So they had gotten used to each other’s company, but the rest of the school hadn’t come to terms with the arrangement. The last Friday before finals week found them in the library, at their usual table, working in mutual quiet. Their project was all but done and they were each revising their notes for other subjects. It wasn’t the first time they’d done this and Annabeth was unsure how they had managed to slip into this routine but they had done so quite comfortably. She remembered the third day they had met up and completed what they could of the project, while she packed up to leave, Percy remained, dragging some other books out of his bag.

_“What are you doing?”_

_“I’ve got to finish the reading for English Lit. Mrs Lafta is gonna murder me if I don’t.”_

_“You haven’t done that yet?”_

_“Sorry I’m not as perfect as you, princess.”_

_“Don’t call me that.”_

_“What, you don’t like princess?”_

_“Perfect.”_

_He looked up and frowned. “Why?”_

_“Because I’m not.” She was sitting down again, not remembering when she’d pulled her chair back out. “I listened to the audiobook.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Because I’m.” A sigh. “I’m…”_

_“You’re dyslexic?” he finished._

_She immediately felt defensive. She was unsure why she had just handed this information over so easily when she’d managed to keep it guarded for the last twelve years they’d gone to school together._

_“Yes,” she answered sharply._

_But then. “Me too,” Percy said quietly. “But you’re so smart.”_

_“Smart people can be dyslexic,” she scoffed._

_“I know. Well, I mean. You just don’t seem to struggle with stuff.”_

_“Well I do.”_

_He held his hands up at her sharp tone. “You hide it well then.”_

_“Um. Thanks. Well, like I said. Audiobooks. I can send you the link, if you want?”_

_He sat back. “Are you gonna send me a virus?”_

_She rolled her eyes. “All bets off, remember?”_

_The hint of a smile curved his mouth. “Alright. Thanks, Chase.”_

_“You’re welcome, Jackson.”_

And then she had stayed, arguing with him over the plot of The Outsiders and pulling out her own algebra homework afterwards. It was another two hours before they left, parting ways with an awkward nod that hadn’t represented the rest of their afternoon.

“When are people gonna stop staring?” Percy asked.

Annabeth looked up from a calculus problem that was determined to remain unsolved. Percy wasn’t looking at her but off to the side at a group of freshmen who kept glancing over. Annabeth added her glare to Percy’s slight frown and the next girl who looked over whipped her head sharply back and a moment later they all scampered off.

Percy raised his eyebrows at her. “Impressive.”

She smirked. “I am.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily when he looked back at the books sprawled in front of them.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Annabeth looked up at him sharply. “What?”

“I’m tired of being stared at and I can’t look at this anymore.” He leaned forward on his elbows with a grin. “Come on. Don’t you trust me?”

She found herself smiling too. Just a little bit.

“Actually, yeah, I do. Despite my better judgment.”

Percy’s grin widened and they packed up their things.

“Don’t worry,” he told her as they left the library together. “Nobody will ever know you said out loud that you trust a Kapetanidis.”

“They’d better not.”

“Is my body going to be found in a ditch somewhere if they do?”

Annabeth shrugged. “We just don’t know what might happen, Percy.”

He laughed and she tried to ignore the bubbly feeling in her belly in response to the sound. He had a nice laugh, she’d noticed. Sweet and genuine, like you just wanted to join in.

They made it as far as the bakery in town before somebody physically stopped them. It was one of Percy’s younger cousins, a little boy with dark hair curling around his ears and a mouth too loud for his little body.

“What are you doing with _her?”_ Was the first thing he said, directly to Percy and with disgust painting his voice quite colourfully.

Percy laughed while Annabeth grit her teeth and glared at the little boy.

“We’re doing a project together, Lammie. You know about this.”

He scrunched up his features like somebody had thrown a stink bomb at his face.

“But you’re not at school.”

“We’re gonna work on the beach,” Percy answered. “It’s quieter.”

He continued looking between them, evidently perplexed. Percy patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. We still hate each other. It’s just something we have to do for school.”

The little boy frowned as he took in Percy’s words and threw Annabeth a distrustful look. She returned it with a bored one.

“Okay,” he said slowly. And, throwing one last disgusted look Annabeth’s way, he scampered off.

“I can’t wait for this project to be over,” Annabeth muttered, walking off without waiting to see if Percy would follow.

He did. He was quiet as he walked next to her with his hands stuffed into his pockets and he was quiet when one of Annabeth’s friends of a cousin twice removed stopped them and made similar comments to the ones his cousin had. He was quiet as they scattered stones on the beach and Annabeth decided on a spot to set up camp, out of view from onlookers. He was quiet until she kicked his foot.

“What’s up with you?”

“What? Nothing. Should we work on the project?”

“Um. Sure. We don’t have much left.”

So they settled down into their usual rhythm and bickered lightly over word choice and then she was making him laugh that laugh again, and the quietness from before seemed like it belonged to someone else entirely.

“Oh my god are you kidding me?” she said, shaking with her own laughter. “Your cousin had devil eyes. I swear, he’s possessed.”

“His mother will flay you alive if she hears you saying that.”

“Well it’s a good thing she never will then.”

“You’re more scared of her than you are of me and you’ve never even met her.”

“Of course I am. The women of your family are much more terrifying than the men.”

For a moment Percy looked like he might argue, but then he shrugged and nodded.

“You know, you’re probably right.”

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Huh?”

“What did you just say?” She was smiling. “You said I was…?”

Percy rolled his eyes. “Jesus. You’re so needy for compliments.”

“Shut up!” But she was laughing.

He was laughing too, with his eyes nearly closed and the skin around them creased and she imagined, for a moment, how he might look when he’s older and those laugh lines have made permanent marks on his face. She felt something warm and fond creep into her chest in response, creeping in through the gaps of her rib cage like intruders. He would look handsome, she knew that much.

She realised she was staring, when Percy’s laughter faded and he instead bit his lip. She caught his eye and then looked away again immediately, feeling a flush rise on her cheeks.

“So, um,” Percy said. “It hasn’t been too horrible hanging with you, these past few weeks.”

“It’s been surprisingly not disgusting, I guess.”

“Wow, what a compliment.”

She smirked. “Now who’s needy.”

He rolled his eyes and that warmth burst inside her chest again.

“I, uh. I might have to come up with another excuse after this project is over,” she said, all in a rush before she could really contemplate or stop what she was saying. “To hang out.”

She wasn’t even looking at him but his face was like sunshine when he smiled, she caught the rays of it from the corner of her eye. Not smug, just pleasantly surprised.

“We might have to,” he said.

“We’ll keep it between us though,” she said, looking at him.

Percy nodded and held out his hand. “Agreed.”

She rolled her eyes, but as she took his hand and gave it a firm shake, it felt like a vow or some deeper promise than the one she’d just joked about.

And as she looked into Percy Jackson’s sea green eyes and felt his fingers tighten around her knuckles, she felt as though she had just crossed a threshold through which she would not be able to return.

 

* * *

 

_ Now. _

At quarter to midnight on Valentine’s Day, Percy sat on the deck of his boat, watching the harbour for signs of life. Squinting through the darkness, there was very little to make out, but eventually a figure formed, accompanied by footsteps on the creaky decking.

Annabeth appeared like a vision, strolling up to where he sat and rocking on her heels.

“Hey there,” he said.

Annabeth smiled with just one corner of her mouth.

“Hey there.”

Then she withdrew her hands from behind her back and leaned her forearms on the railing. From the fingers of one hand dangled a single rose by its stem.

“I see you got my gift,” Percy said.

“Oh was this from you? I was about to break up with you for my new secret admirer.”

Percy propped his chin on his hands and stuck out his bottom lip.

“Don’t joke about that.”

Annabeth tweaked his nose. “Don’t be a baby.”

He just frowned at her but then she rested her hands on his thighs and leaned in close.

“Dear Annabeth,” she said in a hushed voice, close enough that he felt her breath on his skin. “I love you from the tips of your toes to the ends of your princess curls. My whole heart is yours, and no one else’s.”

She leaned back to look at him and he knew his cheeks were red, felt the blood rush to them while she recited his own words back to him.

“Wow.” His voice broke. He cleared his throat and tried again. “They sound like the real deal. I’ve got some competition.”

Annabeth smiled and curled one hand around his neck.

“You know you don’t.”

“No?”

“If I have your heart, you have mine,” she murmured, and then she kissed him.

He was still sitting on the edge of his boat and she was on her tiptoes and it was kind of uncomfortable but he didn’t care. He didn’t care because the girl he loved was kissing him, pressing the thorns of the rose he bought her into his thigh like a sharp reminder. A blissful pain.

When she pulled away for long enough, Percy eased through the railing and landed on his feet next to her. Annabeth smiled as he grabbed her hips and pulled her closer. She cupped his cheeks gently, having abandoned the rose on the deck.  

“You’re the only one for me, Jackson.”

“Good,” he said, kissing her again.

He held her close, tried to press the feeling in his chest into their kiss. Tried to show how much he wanted her, just her, and nobody would or could get in the way of that.

“You know,” she told him, between kisses. “I wasn’t actually jealous.”

Percy pulled back to give her a look to which she rolled her eyes in response.

“I mean I wasn’t actually worried about you liking someone else. I trust you.”

He squeezed her hips. “Good. But…?”

She sighed, averting her gaze to their feet instead of his face.

“I just. I was jealous, not of that but...of the fact that she could just walk up to you in the hallway and ask you out. I want that so much. Some days I think it might kill me.”

And god. He loved how dramatic she could be. How she let herself be so vulnerable with her words. He knew how much it took for her to say them. So he leaned in and kissed her cheek, the corner of her mouth.

“Me too,” he said lowly. “I just wanna walk up to you and kiss you by your locker. Especially when you have that annoyed look on your face.”

“What look?”

He grinned. “That one.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved him a bit. “Shut up.”

But she curled her fingers into his hair afterwards and pulled him closer, sealing her lips over his. And Percy figured this was probably his favourite place to be in the world.

“Mm, sometimes I wish we could get on that boat and just sail away.”

Percy smiled at her, playing with the belt loop on her jeans. “There’s this island, like half a day away from here. It’s so quiet there. Nobody knows us. I wish I could take you there.”

Annabeth looked up at him through her lashes, biting her lip.

“What if you could?” she asked slowly, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. It tickled and made him shiver, but not as much as the look on her face did.

“I know that face,” he told her. “That’s your I have a plan face.”

Annabeth grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is just.............................so much fluff it's dumb and i love every moment of it. hope y'all did too <3 prepare for the drama to arrive pallys


	6. March

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're back, we're back. this chapter has some of my FAVOURITE moments i've written for these dumb lovebirds so i u all enjoy them just as much as i have :) drama is fast approaching gang, so fasten your seatbelts. also pray for me as i have a LOT to write for the next chapter. 
> 
> ALSO if any of you pay attention to stuff like that, you'll notice the chapter total has gone up. this is not because we've added more, it's because apparently i can't do simple maths. so anyway, there's four more chapters coming after this one :)

**March**

The envelope was large and white, thin enough to be holding just a few sheets of paper, and stamped with the three crowns of Columbia University. 

Annabeth had worn the corners soft and crumpled the sharp edges. It had arrived that morning and had been sitting on the countertop in the kitchen when she’d gone down to breakfast and now - at ten o’clock at night - still remained unopened. She’d torn the letters from NYU and NTUA free with little preamble and had been relieved to find that she’d been accepted to both, but this envelope remained unopened. 

This was her dream and with one swift rip of paper it could be fulfilled or dashed. Like a strange Schrödinger's cat in paper form, until she opened it she could still be going to her dream school. But as soon as she opened it, she would know one way or another whether the cat was dead or not. 

She stood at Percy’s front door, looking at the tumbling vines around the faded baby blue wooden door frame as she waited for it to open and thumbed the tab of the envelope. Eventually, eventually, it opened and there stood the person she most wanted to see in the world. 

“Holy fuck, I’m scared,” she told him, stepping forward into his arms and letting him close the door behind her. 

It was dark enough for her not to have been seen by any prying neighbours. Percy’s mother, as per his text, was working in the family restaurant tonight. All of this meant that she could enjoy the comfort of having her boyfriend’s arms wrap around her without any worries of being caught. 

Percy’s hand rubbed her back and she breathed him in from where her face was tucked against his neck. 

“Didn’t think you got scared,” Percy joked. 

She poked his ribs and let go of him to look at him. “You know that’s not true.”

He nodded. “I do. Is that it?” He looked at the creased envelope in her hand. 

She brought it between them. “Yeah.”

Percy nodded and reached behind him to pick up a similarly large envelope. 

“Snap,” he said, bumping them together. 

“Should we swap?”

“Yes. Or, I don’t know. Should we?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

So they did and Annabeth was now holding an envelope indistinguishable to her own but for the red logo in the top left corner, and of course his name and address carefully printed onto a sticker in the centre. She mapped the tidy letters of his name with her fingers and sighed. 

“Let’s just do it.”

“Hm. Should I make tea? You like tea, right?”

She gave him a dubious look. “Can you make tea?”

“It’s pretty simple. Not sure I can screw it up.”

“You managed to last time.”

“You gotta let that go, Annabeth.”

“Hm.”

He was already walking towards the kitchen so she followed, and watched him carefully place her envelope on the kitchen table. She kept his in her hands as he put the kettle onto boil and pulled two cups from the cupboard. He didn’t like tea but it seemed that he was going to join her anyway. If he added enough sugar he could drink it without making a face. 

They blew on their cups and hooked their ankles under the table as their envelopes sat patiently waiting for them. Annabeth stared as Percy bit his lip and caught herself biting her own. 

“Okay,” she said, knocking her foot into his. “Enough dawdling. Let’s do it.”

“Okay.”

And with one trembling word, Percy let Annabeth know just how nervous he was too. She sent him a smile as they reached for each other’s envelopes. 

A finger under the corner of the tab, tug, tug, tug, torn open. Fingers reaching inside, feeling the smooth surface of a brochure and the rough hard paper of a letter. Eased up, revealing a stamped address and that logo again, Dear Percy Jackson, We are pleased to inform you…

“Holy shit.”

When Annabeth looked up, the smile taking over her face was matched by Percy’s exuberant grin. 

“You got in,” he told her excitedly.

“Fuck. So did you.”

“Fuck!”

They burst out of their chairs to hug each other, laughing and still clutching each other’s letters and it felt bigger than this. Felt bigger than this little kitchen and two cups of tea. This was their future, not just the next four years but the rest of them after. She was going to Columbia. This was everything. 

They ended up lying across Percy’s bed, Annabeth using Percy’s shoulder as a bony pillow as she lay on her side next to him. She felt warm and content, reveling in the bliss that followed from an enormous weight being lifted from her shoulders. The lightness of the feeling was enough even to dissolve the everyday anxieties that came with hiding a relationship from the world. For a while she just let herself live in the daydream of next year - of six months away - where they could just  _ be _ . With no repercussions from doing so. 

She was explaining the jet stream to Percy and was only half sure of the facts from the project she’d done three years ago. When she ran out of information, he tapped her shoulder, nudging her closer. 

“What colour do you think tastes the best?”

Annabeth looked up at him, frowning. “Colours don’t have tastes.”

He jostled her again. “Course they do. Like, obviously blue is the best but what do you think is second best?”

Annabeth looked at him a moment before laughing. “Do you have synaesthesia?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s like. When two of your senses are joined. It happens when you’re really young. My uncle has it.”

“No way, so he can taste colour?”

“No, he can see language. So like different letters have different colours for him.”

“That’s so cool. I can’t even, like, I can’t imagine that.”

“I know, it’s such a strange thing to conceptualise.”

“Alright big words.”

She laughed. “Shut up. It is though, don’t you think? Like, the theory of it can be explained in infinite detail, but if you don’t experience it, you can’t understand what it feels like.”

“Mhm.”

“So do you think you have it?”

“Hm. No, I don’t think so? I think I would know, right?”

“Mhm. But most people who have it only realise they’re different from everyone else when it’s pointed out to them. Like, my uncle discovered it through this exercise in class one time. They had to colour the word ‘fire’ and he was the only one who coloured it blue and green.”

“That must have been so scary for him.”

“I think it was reassuring. To understand what it was, and that he wasn’t the only person who had it. Even though it’s different for each person who has it. It’s still nice to know you’re not alone, you know?”

He rubs a hand down her back and up again. “Yeah, I know.”

They lay there for a minute, content in the quiet of the room as they each thought over their conversation in different ways. Annabeth shuffled closer to him and tapped his chest with her finger, not to get his attention but just because she could. 

“Yellow,” she told him. 

“Hm?”

She tilted her chin up towards him. “It would taste the best, after blue.”

He smiled indulgently, happily. “You think so?”

“I think it would taste like sunshine.”

He kissed his smile to hers and she was wrong. She was wrong because this is what tasted like sunshine. Yellow love blooming between their lips and chests and expanding until it surrounded them both in the glowing warmth. Sunshine on his lips. 

Interrupted by the front door opening and closing, Percy’s mother calling out and Annabeth’s whole body turned cold in an instant. Percy’s body became a statue underneath her and she couldn’t feel her fingertips or her toes all of a sudden. 

Percy was the first to move. 

“Window. I’ll distract her.”

Annabeth climbed off the bed, wincing at the protesting creak of the old wood before reminding herself that Percy could be held accountable for the noise. She gathered her belongings and backed into the corner behind Percy’s closet as he opened the door and stepped out, leaving it ajar so as not to raise suspicion but leaving her with enough privacy to make her escape. She listened to him greet his mom as her heart pounded away in her chest, drowning out their voices and she remembered the tea cups. 

_ Shit.  _

The two half drained tea cups sitting on the kitchen table revealing Percy’s guest to the world. 

Annabeth had managed to slide the window open and had her leg halfway out when Sally’s words finally register into something understandable over her thundering pulse. 

“So, is Annabeth staying for dinner?”

And Percy said nothing. Absolutely nothing, for far too long. 

But Annabeth definitely heard her own name come from Sally Jackson’s mouth. 

Annabeth’s heart thundered into overdrive and continued on through Percy’s lack of response and then, after a moment when she had put both feet back on the floor of Percy’s bedroom floor, began to calm. Because Sally’s voice had not been accusatory or challenging. It was calm, lilting higher in tone at the end as she phrased the question, like she was trying to coax the answer out of him. She knew. 

And the world hadn’t imploded. 

Slowly, with her hands trembling, Annabeth walked over to the open door and stepped out into the living room. Sally’s eyes found her first and Annabeth desperately searched her expression for any sign of hostility. She found none. Her eyebrows pulled up as Annabeth stood next to Percy and she crossed her arms in front of her and looked like she was trying very hard not to smile. 

One look at Percy told Annabeth he was terrified. Not for fear of what his mother might do to her - as it would have been if their roles were currently reversed - but the fear she knew too well. The fear that came with their secret being exposed. She felt it in her heart, radiating throughout in painful squeezes of her pulse, which she fought down by pressing her nails into the palm of her hands. 

“Erm,” Percy said. 

Annabeth looked back to his mom, whose gaze calmly flicked between the two of them. 

Annabeth decided to take the initiative. “Hi, Miss Jackson.”

“Hello, Annabeth. Are you staying for dinner?”

“Um.”

“ _ Mom _ ,” Percy interrupted, sounding desperate. “What. Do you...know?”

Sally’s eyebrows pulled up again. “Do I know about what, Percy?”

Percy’s breath came out trembling and Annabeth wanted to reach for his hand but she was frozen to the spot. 

“About Annabeth and...and me. About this.”

The five seconds in which Sally waited to respond felt like an eternity. 

“I suspected,” she said. “For a little while now.”

Annabeth’s body released enough for her to grab Percy’s hand desperately. He squeezed back and she felt grounded. Well, perhaps not grounded. But like she was falling down a very big hole with somebody else now, rather than all alone. 

Sally’s face softened. “I’m not angry, please stop looking so terrified.”

“You’re not?”

“Percy,” she said scoldingly. “Did you really think I would be?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think you would approve of it. Of us.”

“I want you to be happy, sweetheart. And I’ve never been a part of this...disagreement.”

“So you don’t hate me?” Annabeth asked, her voice sounding small to her own ears. 

“Oh honey.” She tilted her head and shook it. “Of course I don’t hate you.”

“You’re not mad?” Percy asked. 

Sally stepped forward and squeezed Percy’s arm. “I’m not mad.” She looked between them both, raising her eyebrows. “But do we need to have a talk about closed bedroom doors?”

“No!” Percy practically shouted. “We’re good, I promise.”

Sally looked at Annabeth who shook her head silently, vehemently. 

“Okay then. Dinner.”

And that was it, easy as pie. Like the whole world hadn’t just shifted on its axis. Annabeth and Percy exchanged a cautious look, their hands still clasped tightly between them. Someone knew, somebody outside of a best friend knew about them. And the world hadn’t come to an end. 

Annabeth’s heart skipped in her chest. She felt just a little more hopeful. 

Dinner was nice. Annabeth wasn’t used to a small dinner being noisy. Dinners with her and her mother were often quiet, not bad, just quieter. Big family dinners were chaotic in a way she loved. But this was different, in a nice way too. Sally left the radio on in the kitchen and there wasn’t really a moment when one of them wasn’t talking. 

Annabeth bonded with Sally far quicker than she expected. Most of their meal was spent with Percy begging his mom to stop sharing stories about him while Annabeth egged her on before sharing some of her own. 

“I think I know when you two started dating,” Sally said idly as Percy cleared their plates. 

He paused, picking up Annabeth’s plate, and met her eyes with his own wide ones. It was a little comical. Just a little bit. 

“I’m not gonna like this, am I?” he said. 

Sally laughed and Annabeth couldn’t help but join her. 

“It’s not bad!” Sally insisted. 

“Oh god, I don’t care. I’m leaving the room.”

Which was not what Annabeth would do in his position but perhaps he was just resolved to the fact that he was going to be embarrassed either way, so he may as well not be present for it. 

So he took the plates into the kitchen and Sally’s gaze followed him with a kind look before turning back to Annabeth with a conspiratorial smile. 

“Am I being mean?” she asked. 

“No, he’s being a baby.”

Sally laughed again and Annabeth didn’t think Percy looked that much like his mother, except for right now. His kindness came from her, it was very clear to see. But when she smiled and laughed like that, Annabeth could be looking at him. Their eyes creased in the same way and their chins ducked like they were trying to hide it, just a little. 

Annabeth’s heart thumped in her chest so loudly that she nearly missed Sally’s next words. 

“Last June.”

“Hm. Sorry, what?”

Sally raised her eyebrows, amused. “When you two started dating. Before the end of school, no?”

“I...what makes you say that?”

“Oh, he just seemed, happy. Happy in a different way than I’d seen before. I wanted to ask him about it, but I didn’t want to embarrass him.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows and Sally smiled, almost bashful. 

“Well I thought if I questioned him about it then he would probably get all defensive. He was being strange about working with you on that project anyway.”

“So you thought we were dating then?”

“You weren’t?”

“We started spending time together for the project then. But we, um, we weren’t anything more than friends until July.”

Annabeth’s birthday, to be precise. But things weren’t official for another month after that. 

Sally appraised her with clear surprise. “I suppose he liked you for a while then.”

Annabeth’s cheeks felt too warm as she looked down at the table. She had liked him from that time too, really, but hearing confirmation that he’d felt the same from so early on was extremely flattering. 

“Okay, are you done?” Percy asked as he re-entered the room. 

Annabeth smiled at him. “Yeah, I have all the information I need.”

He sat down next to her. “For what?”

“Bribery purposes.”

“Oh god. Mom, what did you do?”

“I created a monster, clearly.” She stood up. “Annabeth, should you be getting home, sweetheart? You have school tomorrow.”

She checked her watch and balked at the time. She was staying at Piper’s tonight, with her as an alibi for the whole evening, but Piper could only cover her for so long. 

“I should. Thank you so much for dinner, Miss Jackson. And thank you, for…”

Sally smiled. “It was lovely to finally meet you, Annabeth.”

“And you.”

Percy walked her to the front door and Sally disappeared into the kitchen, presumably to give them some privacy. There, Percy took her hands and they stood close together. 

“So,” she said. “Your mom knows.”

“My mom knows.”

“And we’re going to college together.”

His smile was small but certain, a sweet thing. “Things are getting serious.”

She breathed in deep, taking in the smell of him and his mom’s cooking and letting it calm her anxious heart. She shuffled closer to him and let her forehead rest against his. 

“Are you scared?” she asked softly into the minuscule space between them. 

Percy’s breath came out in one little puff before he drew another one in. He nudged his nose against hers. 

“Being with you is the only thing that’s never scared me,” he told her. 

 

* * *

_ Before. _

It had been the best summer of Percy’s life, if he was honest with himself. Which, compared to his expectations before the end of school, was pretty impressive. Annabeth, of course, had absolutely everything to do with it. 

After they’d abandoned any pretence that they didn’t enjoy spending time together back in June, they unanimously and wordlessly agreed that it just makes sense to spend all their available time together. Since July, they had been something even more but he still was unsure what.

Piper had flown out to California to stay with her father the week after school ended and Grover had been enlisted by his uncle to work with him around the surrounding islands. Which left Percy and Annabeth mostly to their own devices. While their families still demanded some of their time, were mercifully quite freeing. 

They still kept their unexpected friendship - or whatever this was - a secret, of course, too afraid of what the consequences might be if they were found out. Percy didn’t even know what he would say to his family, or anyone else for that matter. He couldn’t explain why he and Annabeth had become something other than enemies. Couldn’t describe the feeling in his chest and his belly and his shaky knees when she greeted him with a smile and laughed at something stupid he did and pressed close to him while they hid from passers by. Couldn’t begin to express the feeling of her lips pressed against his - because yeah, that had happened too. It happened so much now that it felt natural, though still exhilarating, every time. 

Annabeth and Percy, kissing. Normal. 

He couldn’t explain it and didn’t particularly want to dissect it. He just wanted to enjoy it, while it lasted. Because that was the other thing, the elephant in the room, the uncertainty of what would happen at the end of summer. He didn’t want to broach the subject with Annabeth because he wasn’t sure if she’d be able to answer him. Or if she did, he wouldn’t like the answer. Her smiles and touches and laughs told him she was enjoying this as much as he was, but no matter how much time he spent with her, Annabeth Chase would always remain a bit of enigma. What if she turned around in a couple of weeks time and told him that  _ this summer was great, I guess we’re back to normal now. Hate you later! _

He didn’t really know what he would do if that happened. 

So he decided not to think about it. 

“Happy birthday, loser!”

Annabeth’s voice came out of nowhere and Percy jumped like a spooked horse. She laughed in response, loud and free and Percy was glad they chose this spot at the Spring to meet up at. It gave them some more privacy, more freedom to be louder. She was wearing shorts and a loose grey t-shirt over her black bikini today and Percy tried not to stare as she stopped in front of him, but it was kind of difficult with her looking like that.

“Um, thanks,” he managed, too late.

She smiled. “Sorry it’s a day late but you didn’t invite me to your birthday party.”

He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Very sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, I guess. Here.”

She thrust a small, carefully wrapped package at him and started walking off along the path when he caught it against his stomach. He turned to follow and had to jog to catch up to her. 

“You got me a gift?” he asked, a little wonder in his voice.

“It’s not a big deal, Jackson.”

He hid his smile. She used his last name as a defence when she was embarrassed, an attempt to revert them back to their previous hostile acquaintance with one another. So he unwrapped the gift while they walked, letting Annabeth have her silence but noticing her slow her pace to match his. It was a film roll for his camera, the one he had told her he’d run out of film for a couple of weeks ago.

Annabeth was looking at her feet when he looked over at her, unable to stop his smile from growing wider. He put his arm over her shoulder and she let him pull her in. The corner of her mouth ticked up but he could she she was desperately trying to keep it stamped down. He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

“Thanks,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”

He withdrew his arm and tucked the gift into the pocket of his shorts.

“Where are we going?” he asked her, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

She shoved him. “The beach? I don’t know.”

“Do you want to go out on the boat?”

“Sure. It’s been a while.”

They took the long way round to the harbour, having meaningless conversations as they helped each other down the rocky path and through the small wooded part of the island. When they eventually made it to the harbour, hiding until the coast was clear before making a run for it.

It was a clear day with not much wind so their sail into the open sea was slow but uneventful. Annabeth waited for Percy’s signal to come out on deck and immediately stripped her shorts and shirt off and this time Percy stared.

“Take a picture,” she told him. “It’ll last longer.” 

So he did. He took several actually, as she laughed at the lens of his camera and rolled her eyes as he snapped too many shots of her for the expense of the film. He didn’t care. He’d happily fill a whole roll of film of Annabeth if she would let him. But she shoved him away.

“Stop. Come on, lay down with me.”

So he did, not before getting one last shot as she stuck her tongue out at him. He folded the camera carefully inside his shirt and lay down next to her on the wooden deck of the boat. It was pleasantly warm against his back and legs. He happily stretched out in the sun, grateful for the gentle breeze that lifted off the ocean around them. This was his always his favourite place to be, ever since he started sailing his father’s old boat. Annabeth had only been aboard it a handful of times over the summer, but she’d solidly become part of the equation now. He still loved being out here on the boat, just not as much when she wasn’t here too.

He didn’t want this to end. He didn’t want them to return to bitter enemies who interacted only to spit venom at one another. He didn’t want to recalculate the equation of his happy place without her in it any more.

“Hey,” Annabeth said softly, lazy and slow like stretched taffy. 

Percy turned his head to look at her and smiled when she lifted herself up on one elbow.

“There’s a second part to your gift. I just wasn’t sure how to wrap it.”

“Oh, really?”

She smiled and leaned down to kiss him. She was warm from the sun and careful as she pressed her lips against his again and again. Soft little pecks that turned into lazily making out when he pulled her closer.

“That was really smooth,” he told her when she bumped her nose against his.

“Thanks,” she said, mouth still close to his.

Percy realised then, that it would have to be him to voice it aloud. If Annabeth felt the same way - and at this moment he was optimistically sure that she did - she would never be the one to say it. She expressed her feeling through action. She was bold enough to kiss him and hold his hand and give him a thoughtful birthday present. But she wouldn’t be the one to say anything, to voice how she felt or ask him for more than what they already were.

It would have to be him.

“So school starts in a couple of weeks,” he said, not so casually because he couldn’t pull subtle out of his ass on even the most necessary of occasions. 

“Yeah. Don’t know how I’m gonna start getting out of bed before eleven.”

He laughed, rubbing her back, warm from the sun. He watched the wisps of her hair tangle in the light wind instead of looking her in the eye as he just went ahead and said it. 

“I don’t want this to be over.”

Annabeth went stiff and for a moment he thought he’d blown everything to shit as she pulled away. But she sat up and pulled him with her instead. They crossed their legs like in pre-school and she nodded. 

“Okay,” she told him. “Well neither do I.”

He couldn’t help his smile. It was too wide and she smiled ruefully back as she shoved his shoulder. 

“I mean we can’t let anyone know,” he said. 

“Obviously,” she rolled her eyes. “We can keep it secret. We’ve managed all summer.”

“Yeah, but. We’ll be like…”

“What?”

“I don’t know. Official?”

“Is that your way of asking me to be your girlfriend.”

A jolt went through him at the word but it didn’t feel bad. It was a good jolt, leaving a pleasant buzz in his veins. It joined the flurry of butterflies that had started when she had smiled at him like that. Like they were sharing an inside joke only they knew. Only it wasn’t a joke. 

“Yes it is.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? That’s it?”

She laughed. “Fuck off. What more do you want from me? You barely asked me the question.”

Percy grinned and tugged on her hands, leaning forward until his nose brushed hers. 

“Annabeth,” he said, very quietly, brushing his nose against hers softly. “Will you please be my girlfriend?”

She pressed her nose against his and went cross eyed to look into his eyes.

“Yes, I will be your girlfriend.”

“Good.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. Unless this is one very elaborate ploy.”

Annabeth laughed as she kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck and climbing into his lap. 

“Well it would have been a failed ploy.”

He tipped his chin up to look at her. “Why’s that?”

She touched his cheek with her finger. “Because I ended up falling for you.”

Then she kissed him before he had a chance to dwell much on those words. She kissed him and kissed him until he forgot his own name. He completely lost track of time and the sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon before they set off back to the harbour. Annabeth sat on the floor next to him as he navigated the boat and stayed out of sight until the boat was moored. 

The harbour was empty but they kept their voices low as Percy tied up the mooring lines. 

“It’s gonna be hard,” Annabeth said. “Hiding this from everyone when we get back to school. We’ve been lucky with people not being around, but…”

“I know,” he said. “It’s gonna be different now.”

“If anyone finds out, I mean  _ anyone  _ were screwed. My mom will never let me leave the house, our families would probably disown us. Our lives would be over.”

Percy finished the knot and turned to her, taking her outstretched hand. 

“We’ll be okay,” he said. “We’ll be careful and we won’t tell anyone. We can keep fighting in front of everyone and make sure no one knows we spend time together. Nobody suspects a thing right now so that’s on our side.”

“And if they do?”

He sighed. “Then we’re screwed. My family is gonna pay for me to go to college so I think they’d withdraw that offer pretty quick.”

Annabeth frowned, looking distressed and he reached up to press his thumb to the crease between her eyebrows before smoothing it over her left brow and cupping her cheek. 

“It’ll be okay,” he told her. “Nobody is gonna find out.”

Slowly, she nodded, stepping close and pressing her forehead to his. “Whatever happens, I don’t want to let go of this yet.”

He squeezed her hands. He knew how much it took for her to voice that. 

“Me too. No matter what, we’ll hold onto this for as long as we can. Right?”

“Right.” She breathes in through her nose. “We’ll be okay.”

“Hey,” he told her, smiling as he nudged her chin up with their joined hands. “We’ll be great.”

 

__

* * *

 

_ Now _

Having a group chat with Percy, Grover, and Piper was always going to be a bit chaotic, but Annabeth hadn’t anticipated quite how active it would be. There was the expected moaning about teachers and certain students which she could deal with. But the gossip which could be accessed when you had people from both sides of the town-wide rivalry turned out to be endless and ridiculous. Different versions of stories were bashed out and mocked, while loyalties were defended and truths were spilled. Annabeth now found it normal to pick up her phone to notifications for the group in the double and even triple numbers after she’s been studying for a while. She had resorted to muting it after getting a few too many curious looks from her family members. 

But on Thursday afternoon, as she walked out of the school yard by herself, she opened the chat to use it for its original purpose. 

**_Operation: friar laurence, except we’re not dipshits_ **

_ Annabeth Chase: Leaving school now, should be there in like 20 _

_ Piper McLean: Yas. Get your ass here I’m gonna kill these two fools _

_ Grover Underwood: rude _

_ Percy Jackson: see you soon ❤️ _

_ Piper McLean: I thought we agreed no PDA in the group chat _

_ Grover Underwood: yes I remember that discussion  _

_ Annabeth Chase: jfc  _

_ Keep it together until I get there please _

_ Piper McLean: no promises  _

She rolled her eyes and pocketed her phone, but she was smiling as well. Because they were all idiots and they bickered worse than siblings. But there was an unexpected affection underneath it all which she couldn’t help but notice. It hadn’t taken her long to grown fond of Grover, after learning how kind he was to people and animals and leaves on the damn trees, and how fiercely loyal he was to Percy. Piper and Percy didn’t take to each other quite as easily, but they seemed to be the most sibling-like out of all of them, so Annabeth wasn’t worried. 

When she reached the spring, they were all sitting around in various states of exposure to the blazing sun. There was almost no wind today, which was rare for this part of the island, and after climbing up that hill Annabeth desperately wanted to join them. Piper had the straps of her vest top and bra pulled down into a makeshift halter top and the boys had their sleeves rolled up over their shoulders. They’d all pushed up the legs of the school uniform shorts as much as they’d go, exposing - in Percy’s and Grover’s case - pale thighs.

She laughed at the sight of them and mimicked them as soon as her ass hit the ground, though not before meeting Percy’s waiting lips with a greeting kiss. Brief as it was it still invited groans from the other two and Annabeth put her middle finger up at them without looking. 

“Nice of you to join us,” Piper said. 

“It’s hotter than hell. Why is summer already here?” Annabeth responded. 

“Oh my god, we had biochem last period,” Grover bemoaned. “Dr Calles insists on keeping all the windows closed. I thought I was going to die.”

“It was like Satan’s asscrack in there,” Percy added. 

Annabeth and Piper screwed up their faces in sympathy and disgust at the picture Percy has opted to paint for them. 

“So this is nice in comparison and I shouldn’t complain?” Annabeth said. 

“Mhm.”

“Fine. How far are we with the plan?”

Piper pulled her phone out to consult the notes she’d been keeping. It was locked, and according to her, written in code. Annabeth presumes this meant she had referred to everyone by their initials rather than using any actual code. She wasn’t worried about it. Piper was incredibly protective over her phone after her younger cousins had started reciting her texts aloud at a family dinner when she was in eighth grade, leaving her scarred for life. 

“Right. Percy’s alibi is sorted. He and Grover are going camping for a week on the island of Erimiá.”

“It’s far enough away that we don’t have any relatives there and close enough to reach on Percy’s boat,” Annabeth chimes in. 

“Yes. Annabeth you’ll sleep in there the night before and be a stowaway. Grover is going to do something weird that I lost interest in so didn’t write down.”

“Hey!” Grover protested. “I’m going to explore the Northern side of the island. It’s one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the Greek islands. The island’s name means wilderness and is rumoured to have been one of Pan’s resting places-”

“Mhm. You mind if I don’t write that down?”

Grover scowled. 

“Anyway,” Annabeth interjected. “I’ve done a ton of research and it’s perfect. It seems to be fairly popular with tourists so we should blend right in. We can pass as a couple in college so shouldn’t be too suspicious. I did try and get information from the tourism office about how many tourists from Pelagios they get a year but they never gave me an answer.”

Piper stared at her. “You’re ridiculous.”

“How am I attracted to you,” Percy said in a similar tone. “Doesn’t matter, I am. Continue.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “It’s a totally reasonable thing to look up!”

“Annabeth, we know nobody goes there from this island, that’s why we chose it.”

“Just want to be sure. Anyway, they couldn’t give me that information and by the way we have to avoid that office because she  _ did not  _ like me,” she added, meeting Percy’s eyes. 

He grinned as he shook his head at her and that, she thought, was exactly what fondness looked like in a snapshot. She took a mental picture and stored it for later. 

“Okay so Annabeth has being a nerd covered,” Piper said and Annabeth kicked at her, lazily because it was still ten thousand degrees and moving in any way seemed like a lot of effort. 

“Annabeth’s alibi,” Grover prompted. 

Ah yes, that was an obstacle they hadn’t found a solution to yet. Annabeth felt herself deflate. It was something her mind had racked over and over again without any different outcome. 

“So,” Piper started and she was looking anywhere but at any of them. “My mom is taking me with her to Athens for Spring Break.”

“Well that would be great if I was you,” Annabeth said, not following. 

“Mhm, well she’s invited you as well. To keep me company, you know?”

Grover frowned. “You don’t think your mom will notice her, ya know, not being there?”

“Yeah this would only work if your mom knew,” Percy said. 

And Annabeth knew she realised before the boys did. She watched Piper slowly raise her eyes to meet hers fleetingly, her lips bitten in what could only be described as a meek  _ don’t kill me please  _ expression. 

“Piper…?” she said. “What have you done.”

“Wait what?” Percy asked. 

“Before you freak out, it’s totally fine!” Piper insisted. 

Annabeth could feel her heart rate raise into double time as the panic swelling in her chest. “You told your mom about us?!”

_ “Wait, what?” _ Percy repeated, more shrilly this time. 

Piper flipped from placating to defensive. “What? Percy’s mom knows, what’s the big deal?”

“Not the same thing, Pipes.”

“The big deal is that she’s  _ my  _ mom and I’m one of the people in this relationship,” Percy said heatedly. “Your mom has no reason to protect us and no business knowing about us, to be honest. Why would you tell her?”

“I didn’t! She found out!”

_ “How?” _

Piper huffed and Annabeth watched the defensiveness puff out of her. She looked at Annabeth. “She heard us talking about stuff in my room and confronted me about it after you left.”

“But we were careful,” Annabeth insisted. “What did she hear us say?”

“Something about love,” Piper said, her eyes shifting with visible discomfort to Percy briefly. 

Annabeth’s eyes shifted to him too. They had said the words aloud to each other plenty, but him hearing that she talked about it with others was different. Embarrassing? Exposing? She wasn’t sure, but Percy’s fleeting smile in this disaster of a conversation did press her heart into a slower rhythm. So it wasn’t all bad. 

She returned her attention to Piper. 

“We never said Percy’s name though.”

Piper sighed. “Yes well my mom is an FBI agent when it comes to relationships. She said you were, and I quote,  _ glowing _ , so she knew you were in love.”

“Oh god,” Annabeth said, slightly mortified. 

“Then she kept asking me questions like, who you’re in love with and for how long and was it a secret,  _ why  _ was it a secret. I swear she kept going on and on and I said like two words but then she asked if it was forbidden love because you know she loves that shit and I must have reacted, so then she got pretty easily to Percy after that.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. But honestly she’s cool about it, I swear. Like I said, she lives for shit like this. She’s living vicariously through you two, through me.”

“Ew?” Percy said, scrunching his face up. 

“Yeah that’s weird,” Grover added. “She’s cool keeping it from everyone though?”

Piper nodded. “She loves a scandal but she loves love more. I made her swear on my life and told her I’ll move to live with my dad and never speak to her again if she tells a soul.”

Annabeth sighed. “So we’re safe.”

“Yes.”

“And we have an alibi,” Percy said. 

“Yes. You’re welcome.”

“Okay,” Annabeth sighed, still feeling the aftershock of that news rattling around under her skin. “So we’re doing this.”

She met each of their eyes  and they all nodded, like a pact had just been made. They were all in this now.


End file.
